


Alchemy off the Coast of Ivalice

by dagas isa (dagas_isa)



Category: Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy XII
Genre: Adventure, Background Het, Big Bang, Colonialism, Cross-cultural, Crossover, Female Friendship, Female Protagonist, Female-Centric, Friendship, Gen, POV First Person, Women Being Awesome, oh shit it's a long final fantasy fic get in the car!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-11-08
Updated: 2010-11-08
Packaged: 2017-10-13 03:06:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 29,592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/132138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dagas_isa/pseuds/dagas%20isa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After citizens of Rabanastre have been growing ill from a mysterious waterborne illness, Queen Ashe sends Penelo to go to the Archadian colony of Spira to recruit the help of the genius alchemist Rikku. There she becomes Rikku's servant for the duration of the assignment and they discover that Rabanastre's problem is one that's been plaguing the island for years. Now it's up to the both of them, Yuna, Lulu, and Auron to find the solution that will clean both Spira's and Rabanastre's water supplies, but not everyone wants to see Spira saved.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A word on Spira, from the Narrator

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Al Bhed language is scattered sparingly across the story. [A translator](http://albhed.netfirms.com/) is thus provided.

**A word on Spira, from the Narrator**

The island of Spira, located off the northwest coast of the main Ivalice continent, often carries the stigma of an island backwater. It is true that the majority of Spira's residents are technophobic to a degree that most Garif would consider extreme, that their island is either poor in mineral riches or simply untapped by the native residents, and that their cultural achievements have yet to arrive on the coast of the mainland. However, to say that they have neither developed technology nor culture is patently false. The Al Bhed who primarily reside along the island's southern coast have adopted and innovated from mainland technology, while the Yevonites have developed a highly sophisticated communion with the Espers. So, one could perhaps say that the problem is that technology and culture have failed to intersect.

Politically, Spira is a colony of Archades, but short of installing Governor Mika among the Yevonite's council of Maesters and occasionally providing regulatory oversight, it functions as an autonomous state. Spira's largest city and home of the island's only aerodrome is Bevelle; followed by Luca, which is according to my Spiran acquaintances, is Spira's leisure and educational heart. Unfortunately, as the reader will soon see, my time on Spira did not allow me to explore this aspect of Spira's culture.

Spira's population consists mainly of humes, both of the Al Bhed faction, who are mostly distinguished by their swirling green eyes and of the Yevonite faction, who are ocularly identical to humes found on the mainland. In addition, there are the Ronso Viera who reside in the mountain ranges on the Northeast of the Island.

Most important for me though, is Spira's dedication to the art and science of alchemy and the historical event that spurred the rapid advances in the field. The effects of which have only now started to spread across the mainland and that largely thanks to the recent arrival of perhaps Spira's most illustrious alchemist.

If one has spent any time in Rabanastre during the past year, one might have learned of the Basilisk Curse, a brief period in which the water of our fair city had a nasty habit of turning select residents into slowly poisoned statues. That this Curse was a brief flicker of the catastrophe it could have been is a feat owed to the history and alchemical knowledge of this "island backwater."

~ Penelo, mover and shaker  
Written in the year 711


	2. Chapter 2

Beyond mere street rumors, I first heard of the Basilisk Curse of 710 –what I would later come to know as the Sin Toxin—when two of the palace guards entered Migelo's shop and requested (very insistently) on behalf of the queen that I see her right away, never mind that I worked for Migelo during the weekdays and only truly worked for Queen Ashe on the weekends or when Migelo had duties up at the palace.

No one would explain anything to me, except that discretion was of the highest value and that undue words could cause endemic chaos. Migelo gave a slow nod, and this time he did not even try to say to be back shortly.

Discretion. Endemic chaos. A special request from the queen. The guards must have looked down at me and perhaps wondered why a seventeen-year-old part time retainer, merchant's apprentice, and dancer would be personally requested by Queen Ashe herself.

I would lie to say that I had not even the vaguest clue. Most likely it would involve adventure. The role a shopgirl played in the reclamation of Dalmasca's throne and her later short adventures as an airship navigator, engineer, and sky pirate were stories that I preferred to remain uncirculated. Who, exactly, would believe them unless they happened to be at the receiving end of any of the abilities that I had picked up along the way, or if they managed to take a look at the list of spells I could legally wield. Therefore, I thought I could safely make the assumption that if Queen Ashe were specifically requesting my presence she would likely be drawing on my expertise as an adventurer not as Migelo's errand girl.

Queen Ashe sat atop her throne, wearing a blue gown and her signature white coat with the crown of Dalmasca gracing her hair. She looked bored, but that expression was a disguise for weariness. When I looked closer, the circles around her eyes betrayed the fact that she had not taken her rest at all during the past few days. I ran my head through all the various healing spells I knew, plus a few green ones for good measure.

I knelt before her, as the herald announced: "Miss Penelo of Migelo's Sundries."

"Very good. Please give us a private audience."

The herald retreated; the door closed; and Ashe dropped the boredom. "I have a job for you. Say yes."

I stared at her.

"This is a matter most delicate in regards to city security. If you cannot take the job, please say 'No' and leave. Otherwise, say 'Yes.'"

With a line like that, how could I say no? "Yes."

Queen Ashe leaned in. "Rabanastre is currently in need of an expert alchemist, something that apparently does not exist in Dalmasca if the past few days are any indication. However, the alchemists here have been kind enough to refer a prodigy alchemist living on Spira." Spira was an island and Archadian territory off the west coast of Ivalice, a backwater of little interest in ordinary circumstances.

"According my sources, this Rikku is an expert in the specific type of work Rabanastre needs done. Your job is to travel out to Spira, enlist her help for this commission and, if necessary, ensure that she has the resources to complete it as quickly as possible."

"I can do that. May I inquire as to the commission?"

Ashe tilted her head as though debating whether to tell me, and I almost shook my head. I understood the need for discretion, but if I was to sell this to an acclaimed alchemist and assist her, I would need to know. Finally she motioned me forward, and placed three pictures in my hand. They were of statues in the middle of the Lowtown fountain, two humes and a seeq, and then I realized belatedly that they were people petrified, not sculptures.

"You do not speak a word of this to anyone in Rabanastre."

I didn't mention the rumors that were already heard in the streets. Three Lowtown folk had turned to stone and had been taken away, and the sealing off of the fountain and the Garamsythe Waterway had not gone unnoticed, especially with the extra traffic in the main square, or that Migelo had grumbled about his most recent shipments of potions and ethers being delayed for other urgent business. "I will be most discreet."

The queen gave a bare nod of her head and laid out the details for me. "What all the medics and alchemists in Rabanastre have determined is that normal spells and tonics are not working in this case. They have also determined that beyond mere petrification, we're also looking at a gradual poison effect, and that the symptoms appear to be the cause of something in the Garamsythe Waterway that our purifiers are not catching.

"What they have not been able to determine is a way of concocting a way of relieving this problem. They reccommend this Rikku as an expert in the base causes of waterborne ailments." Ashe then put a roll of paper—a map of Spira—in my hand, "you will travel to Spira and commission Rikku to work on this problem for us, and then also serve as a liaison between her and the palace until the work is complete. Whatever Rikku needs from you, you will provide."

"Yes, your highness."

"Prepare for your travel with all haste. There will be an airship waiting for you, as well as the materials you'll need for the commission. I won't be able to send you off, but know that I wish you the very best in this endeavor."

"Yes, your highness. I will do my best." I gave my best bow and headed out of the palace, already setting my mind to the commission.

\--

I arrived at the airship docks later that afternoon with my travelling pack. One of her counselors, Gaspar, waited for me carrying the materials for the commission. The queen herself was back in the palace—the airship might have been private, but the docks were not, and her presence would have been a sure indication that something was afoot. "Please be careful," he murmured as he passed me a large sack, "this is precious cargo."

"Yes, sir."

"Have you teleport stones?"

"A few."

"Very well. If you are in need of further audiences with the queen regarding this business, the palace will be notified to let you see her immediately."

"I understand." I bowed and headed on to the commissioned ship. The _Prima Vista_ was a slightly smaller vessel than the _Strahl_ , and only I, the pilot and the navigator were on board—and both of them were strangers to me. This was not my first time flying out from Rabanastre, but it was the first time since my first—very embarrassing—departure from the city that I did not have any true companions at my side. I almost wish Vaan could have come with me, though he'd probably spend the whole time putting his foot in his mouth and getting in the way.

As the airship pulled away, I watched the spires and shining rooftops of Rabanastre retreat.

"Relax," the pilot told me once we reached cruising altitude, "We'll be there shortly, and the weather is thankfully clear."

"Have you ever been to Spira?"

"Fourth flight out," she said.

"How is it?"

"Never been outside the Bevelle Airship docks, some of the most poorly maintained facilities there are. Can't get an engineer there worth their spit, and worse, they don't care to learn. They're all a bunch of technophobic hicks. But from the air, it's colorful at least. Spirans like their bright colors.

"Don't know what your business is there, but I don't envy you. They're not too fond of outsiders."

I gulped.

The pilot laughed. "It could be a completely different place outside of the docks."

"Maybe…" I said, but I wasn't feeling too hopeful anymore. Just, please let me get this commission and get back to Rabanastre with a cure in hand, I prayed as the wide expanse of Bevelle appeared on the horizon.


	3. Chapter 3

The airship Queen Ashe had commissioned for my initial travels to Spira, landed at the port in the capital city of Bevelle—a city, that from above, seemed to be painted entirely in brilliant reds and purple. According to the Queen's information and the map that she had given me, Rikku lived on the far south-western coast island in the arid region known as Bikanel, well isolated from Spira's larger settlements—Bevelle and Luca. In fact that closest down seemed to be Besaid in the neighboring region of Baaj. I had teleport stones, and once I found one close enough to my destination I could go between Rabanastre and Rikku easily enough. Besaid would likely have a teleport stone if Bikanel did not have one.

As my duties required efficiency, I went to the Bevelle stables to inquire about renting a chocobo. The stablemaster eyed me. Perhaps it was obvious that I was from the mainland. "What's the destination?" He asked me.

"Bikanel." I pointed to the map.

"2000 gil."

The sign outside had said 100 gil for a rental. When I pointed that out, he shook his head. "That's only for good Yevon folk going to Yevon destinations. Al Bhed pay extra. Call it insurance."

"I'm not Al—" I protested.

"You might not be speaking that gibberish to me, but you've got the look, and only an Al Bhed would go to Bikanel. I'll not have my chocobos kidnapped for your excavation operations."

"I'm Dalmascan. On royal business."

"A mainlander, huh?" The stable-master said, "Then it'll be 4,000 gil."

"You'll take the 500." A woman who wore her dark hair in braids and a dress that showed off her shoulders—and other very shapely parts—perfectly walked up, and you'll rent out two chocobos.

"Delegate Lulu!" The stablemaster said, "She's a foreigner."

"She's here on Dalmascan royal business, and I would rather Spira not be subjected to another battle because we mistreated one of the Queen of Dalmasca's representative. I will ride with her out to Besaid and send her out on another chocobo."

"Fine," the stablemaster grumbled. Saddle two chocobos, for Lady Lulu and her companion.

"Thank you." I said, after we rode out of sight of the Bevelle gates.

"That was foolish, letting it be known that you are a mainlander and for admitting that you were going into Al Bhed territory. You're welcome, though."

"Thank you." I pulled my chocobo to a trot alongside hers. "Who are the Al Bhed?"

"They're a tribe who lives primarily in Bikanel and near the coast of the Baaj Sea," Lulu said. "A little advice: If you're smart, you won't mention the Al Bhed to Yevonites or Yevonites to the Al Bhed. Generally, our two groups don't get along too well."

"I'm looking for someone named Rikku."

"Rikku, huh?"

"You know Rikku?"

"She's quite famous. And her Home is close to Besaid. She comes into town regularly. The Queen has business with her?"

I didn't know how much information I should reveal to Lulu when it came to my mission, so I only said. "The Queen has a commission for her."

"You'll have a difficult time convincing her," Lulu said, "Spira has more than enough work for someone with her specialties. Trinkets for royalty are not going to interest her."

"Not even for a high enough price?"

Lulu looked at me. "Even if the queen offered her entire treasury, Rikku knows the importance of her work here. Without Rikku most of Spira would be--"

"Would be what?"

Lulu changed the subject. "Why do you need an alchemist from all the way out here? I imagine that there are others of a similar level who are much closer to the palace."

"Apparently not. They all referred her to Rikku. They seemed to think this fit into her specialty."

That seemed to pique Lulu's interest. "Is that so? Then, perhaps..."

"Perhaps what?"

"Perhaps she will take the commission."

That's all Lulu said until we reached Besaid. "Let me see your map," she commanded, while a pale-haired groom took our chocobos. Another groom, this one with dark hair and a very easygoing manner with the chocobos, escorted a fresh one to us.

I handed her my map of Spira. And then lightning from her nail made a little burnt mark about five miles out. "That's where you'll find Rikku. I know her and her family. If you talk to her father or brother, only mention the money. Whether she takes your project or not will not depend on the queen's price, but whether Cid allows her to take on the project will, as long as it's not too interesting."

"How do you know that, Lulu?"

"Besaid gets a good amount of work from Rikku, but only if it's of the right type. Let's just say, if it interferes with other Al Bhed pursuits they will discourage her from working on the job."

"Other Al Bhed pursuits?"

Lulu sighed. "There are reasons most who follow Yevon do not appreciate the Al Bhed. Some of them, like Rikku, are good, decent folk. Others are…well, if it's something you need to know, you'll hear of it eventually. Life on Spira is difficult and we have no patience for those, whether of Yevon, the Al Bhed, or the mainland, who strive to make it worse."

"Oh. If the commission is distracting from Rikku from her work…" No matter what, I had to try, didn't. I could feel bad about whether I was butting into Spira's business after people into Rabanastre stopped turning into poisoned statues, and if I learned of their problems beyond the vague hints that Lulu chose to drop, maybe I could convince Emperor Larsa to send aid.

Lulu looked at me. "Let Rikku decide. I wish you good luck. You'll need it."

I rode off feeling no more at ease than I had before.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rikku in her lab with Penelo
> 
> Thanks to Mugs for the art. ^^

The fortress Lulu referred to as the Al Bhed home loomed directly to the north of the gate crystal I had found. Unlike the rest of Spira, which had seemed to be made of natural materials and painted in the brightest colors one could imagine. The Al Bhed home stood as a purely utilitarian behemoth in sensible browns and tarnished metallics. I left the chocobo at the crystal and made my approach on foot. The sounds from the house, the whirring of machinery at work made me suddenly aware of the lack of similar sounds coming from the rest of Spira. Two skimmers emerged from the ground and sped off towards the western horizon and the closing of the sun.

A sign on the front door said "main entrance" in the Ivalice tongue and then something (I assumed was the same thing) in the native language of the Al Bhed. I knocked on the main entrance of the fortress. No answer. I knocked again, and when that still received no response, I pulled on a cord.

A tall, pale, bald man with the oddest eyes—he didn't have pupils, but rather his bright green irises swirled around where the pupils should have been—I had ever seen opened the door. "Yes? What do you want?"

"My name is Penelo, from the city of Rabanastre in Dalmasca. I come here in search of Rikku on behalf of Queen Ashelia." I raised the envelope that clearly showed Queen Ashe's own seal.

"The Queen of Dalmasca, huh? What's she offering? My daughter doesn't take just any commission these days."

So, this man was Cid, Rikku's father, and quite the manager and protective papa—at least according to Lulu. Also according to her, my best approach would be to talk only the financial details with Cid and keep the nature of the commission secret. "It's a very lucrative one. The queen is prepared to offer 20,000 gil up front and more upon successful completion, possibly with bonuses if Rikku is a good as the rumors say she is."

I could see Cid adding the numbers up in his swirled green eyes. "Better. Your Queen better be able to put her money where her mouth is."

"Oh, even more," I said.

Cid yelled "Brother" and a heavily tattooed man with a blond mohawk came down. They spoke to each other in the Al Bhed tongue and Brother headed further into the fortress. When we were alone again, Cid's eyes narrowed. "So what does the queen need done that she'll send someone all the way out to Spira to get the best?"

I lowered my eyes, and put my best conspiratorial voice on. "The queen told me it was confidential. If it were my guessing though, I bet it's a love potion of some sort. There have been rumors going about lately."

"A love potion? That's it. Rikku could brew up the most-effective one on Ivalice in less than an hour. You mainlanders forget the entire art of alchemy in the past 5 years?"

"No. But maybe there was something extra the Queen needs. She didn't confide in me. I am merely a messenger."

Cid leaned in. "It's none of my business, and I don't care. But just be careful. There are the right kind of projects and wrong kind of projects. He glared at me. If they're the wrong kind..."

"I'm sure it's not," A new voice interrupted him. The speaker was a girl who appeared a couple inches shorter than me and perhaps a couple of years younger too. She wore her blond hair twisted into a sloppy updo, with a couple of braids hanging down the side. Except for the swirls in her green eyes, she could have easily passed as a Dalmascan. She tilted her head and regarded me with something that appeared to be curiosity. With a point at me, she and Cid began talking in Al Bhed.

When they finished, Rikku, or I assumed she was Rikku, looked at me again in a new light, and then her face fell a bit. I couldn't understand what Cid said to her, but from the tone of his voice he was giving her the same warning about projects that he had given me.

Then he coughed and turned back to me. "Penelo, this is my daughter Rikku, the genius alchemist of the Al Bhed tribe. Rikku, this is Penelo, who claims to represent Queen Ashelia of Dalmasca."

"Pleased to meet ya!" Rikku gave a jaunty wave. My first impression was that she quite young and open to be the type of obsessed shut-in that made up the image of the stereotypical alchemist in Rabanastre. "You're with the queen, huh?"

"Yes," I bowed, "she has great desire of your services, and will pay well for them, though Queen Ashelia does insist on confidentiality." I raised the sealed message.

Rikku tilted her head, and very deliberately did not look at her father. "If that's the case, then come up to my laboratory, and we will talk about it, confidentially." She held motioned me over to her. "C'mon, we don't have all night."

The laboratory itself looked like a mad-scientist's amalgation of Spiran (or Yevonite) architecture, the interior of an airship, the salvaged metal of Home's outer shell, and the library of a mainland university run through by a windstorm. Any surface of her large work table not covered by her quite impressive array was blanketed with scattered supplies, notes in a variety of alphabets, used dishes, and empty containers.

"What can I do you for?" she asked, though her attention seemed to be more turned towards the purple and blue fluids bubbling in their flasks. She scribbled something down in the large notebook open on the table in front of her.

I recited what Queen Ashe had told me. "Dalmasca is facing a crisis involving the water supply, and she needs a gifted alchemist's hand to mix up a remedy." The bag with the sample and the reports from the alchemists in Rabanastre weighed heavily on my chest. Rikku was not the most famous alchemist in Ivalice, nor the most studied, but the news of her prodigy and her reputation for being practitioner instead of a researcher or an academic made her Queen Ashelia's first choice.

Rikku shook her head. "You're going to have to give me more information if you think I can do anything to help you."

I procured both the sample of the water and the reports. Rikku swished the liquid around in the flask and then put it down in favor of the reports. Her lips moved slightly as she read, and she turned to a blank page in her journal, making little scribbles. For a second, her brows curled inwards, and the fear that she may have been either unwilling or incapable of doing what is needed arose in me. Maybe this was one of those "bad commissions" I had been warned about. Then a worrying smile curled over her lips.

"Well," Rikku said, handing the report back to me, "I think I could come up with a prototype treatment at least. The questions now are when does she want it and how much will she pay me. And don't use the 'good for Rabanastre' bit. Not a lot of us have a lot of love for mainlanders."

I bowed, and offered the bag of money Queen Ashe sent with me. Rikku spilled it out unceremoniously on an empty spot at her table. "That's the first half. You'll get the same amount when you develop a working treatment. As for when, she'd like to see something as soon as possible."

Rikku raised an unimpressed eyebrow. "Do you know how much alchemical ingredients and equipment costs these days? Make this a third. I'll take this much now, same amount on delivery of a prototype, and the final payment after the water is clear."

I walked around the table casting a closer eye at her set up. Migelo sold some fairly good quality arrays for brewing potions and other remedies, but this was more advanced, probably custom-built, or at least drawn from Al Bhed theories of alchemy instead of the ones taught on the mainland. "I'd say that yours would likely go for a small fortune. But your investment in your equipment allows you to get the more lucrative commissions. It's not Queen Ashelia's prerogative to subsidize your other jobs."

Rikku sighed, and I had a feeling that she felt I was being naive. "If this is a rush job—and it sure sounds like one—then all my other jobs get pushed to the back burner. I lose commissions. Plus, I don't exactly get to do alchemy all day. This is a week of constant work. How am I going to be able to get anything else done if I'm in my lab day and night? Pops and Brother are pretty useless at doing other than fixing machines and making dinner. And trust me; they're not very good at the second. I have important errands that they absolutely can't do."

Queen Ashe mentioned that something like this might come up, no matter that I might have hoped otherwise. "The queen has authorized me to become your servant for the duration of this commission."

Rikku sized me up, but she smiled. "So the queen is sending some random chamber maid to wait on me? How do I know that you won't mess anything up?"

"You'll be doing the alchemy. I'll just take care of all the minor inconveniences." I gave a little bow.

"Can you fight? You're going to have to leave this place sometimes and the fiends can get dangerous."

Can I fight? I usually don't brag about the saving the world, helping to restore Queen Ashe to the Dalmascan throne, or spending a couple of years as a sky pirate, but I certainly still had most of the skills latent in me. "You'd be surprised at the skills I've had to develop."

Rikku tilted her head.

"Can I trust you?" Rikku asked at last.

I heard what she asked. "Whatever you have me do is between us. I am at your service."

"Tell the queen that I want an extra 30% on the commission to cover the cost of ingredients and lost business." Rikku said with a smile on her face, "and I'll start working."

"The queen has given her authorization for 15%" Bargaining was probably my favorite part, though in truth Queen Ashe had given me the authority to go as high as 50% over the original commission, I couldn't resist going for the deal. As far as adventuring, piracy, and working at Migelo's taught me, everyone asked for more than they really needed. Rikku had already agreed to do business; the rest was a matter of bargaining.

"Twenty-five," Rikku said, "You want it fast and right, and that means not cheap."

"Twenty."

Rikku sighed. "Twenty-three. I'll start when you return with the Queen's seal on a contract."

"Done." I already fetched some paper from the bag and took out my note to Queen Ashe. As Migelo had expected, Rikku had settled for something between twenty and twenty-five percent over what the queen had initially prepared. The contract had been prepared ahead of time, and so it was only a matter of scratching out the original fee for the amount we agreed upon, and getting Rikku to sign the contract.

She did, in both the loopy script of the native Al Bhed language and then her name in the Ivalice alphabet. Queen Ashe's signature and seal went right below that, and while Rikku did look at me quizzically, she did eventually grin, as I rolled it up.

"Efficient. Nice." She clapped. "Guess the Queen trusts you enough with your business."

"I'll get this delivered to her right away," I said, fingering one of the teleport stones in my pouch. I made a calculation between here and the nearest transport point. "I'll be back by midnight."

"I'll probably be in bed by then, but I'll get a cot set up for you. Pops or Brother will let you in. Maybe. Well, they will if I tell them how much I'm getting paid." Rikku grinned. "Hurry back."

When I exited Rikku's workshop, Brother waited to escort me out of the house. He glared pretty much the entire time, and I supposed it was a good thing that I didn't know the Al Bhed language for all that he mumbled under his breath. "Thank you for your hospitality," I bowed to him when we reached the door, "I'll be back by midnight. Please let me in then." I don't know if he understood or not; either way his face remained blank.

\--

As expected, Queen Ashe had no problem with the final fee. She may have even given a small smile at the bargain that I managed to strike. We had one of the royal scribes make a copy of the contract. The original went to Queen Ashe and the copy would be kept by Rikku. Then, I mentioned that I would be in the service of Rikku while she did her research.

"Then, I suppose," Queen Ashe had responded, her queenly speech almost taking on a drawl, "that you should encourage her to hurry up. Migelo is not going to be happy having his assistant taken from him for so long, and goodness knows he's not going to let me spend a day without having to hear about it."

"I shall attempt to be most hasty, milady."

"Good."

\--

By the time I packed up my belongings and teleported from the Rabanastre to Bikanel and then reached the mechanical fortress Rikku called home, it was in fact almost midnight. I took a deep breath as I knocked on the door. Please, please let her be awake, I prayed.

"Hiya!" The door opened to Rikku's relatively friendly face. "I see you're finally back?"

I handed her the contract. "It's exactly what we agreed upon. I thought you said you were going to be asleep."

"Never mind that. Then, I'll get started on it in the morning. _Tu oui ihtancdyht_ Al Bhed?" When I just stared at her, she sighed. "Guess not. Come on, I'll give you a tour and explain what I'm going to expect from you."

I followed her through the corridors, which seemed to emerge radially from a center hub. "This--" she pointed to a room filled with machines and strange smells, "is the kitchen. Tea and coffee are up in the cabinets over the fridge, and the machine next to the stove with brew them into a drink. During most of the day, we have cooks here in the kitchen and serving up food in the cafeteria for those of us who have the luxury of sitting still to eat. We don't, so it's not worth spending much time in there showing you around. It's mostly just a pit stop to more important places."

Rikku brought me to one of the outer points on the hub. While the rest of Home had seemed almost deserted, even at this late hour, a few of the Al Bhed stayed here, fixing the machines that allowed the Al Bhed to travel across the desert. While we watched a hovercraft came in through the wide hangar doors. Rikku brought me to the place where a few small, lightweight, seagull-shaped vehicles—about big enough to hold one or two people and some cargo—were stored. "And this is where we keep the skimmers. You know how to work one of these, right?"

Well, no. But as I looked at the machinery and the ignition system, I guessed that it wouldn't be too hard to figure out. "It's easier than piloting an airship, probably," I said. I poked around

She smirked. "Well, if you can't figure it out, then I guess you'll just have to face down the fiends while lugging heavy cargo across the desert. And if you crash one of these, then you're going to fix it yourself or pay for repairs."

Then she brought me back to her workroom. "This is where I work my magic. You'll mostly be running errands, since you can't translate or take notes in Al Bhed, but if I need you, this is where I'll most likely be." Rikku opened a drawer and pressed what looked to be a necklace into my hand. "That's your com device. If I have need of you, I'll contact you through that. And then...oh, and one more thing. This is important. You heard what my father said before, about the right kind of commissions and the wrong kind of commissions, right?"

"He said something about that, yes."

"Okay, let me tell you right now: This is absolutely the wrong kind of commission. If he tries to get any details out of you, I'm working on an anti-assassination potion for Queen Ashe. That is our story and we stick to it like sap on bunny's foot."

"Of course," I said automatically before I thought about it. "Why is that the exact wrong commission?" _Doesn't that mean you should refuse?_ I wanted to ask her, but I was not going to push my luck. The queen's commission had been taken, and losing it because of a single question did not seem worth it.

Rikku shrugged. "If there's anything worth worrying about, I'll tell you when it comes. Anyway, I'm sleepy." She gave an exaggerated yawn, one that reminded me just how long a day today had been.

Rikku brought herself to the corner of a room, where a ladder stood. "This is where you'll be sleeping," she said. We climbed the latter into a tiny nook where a bed and the cot she had promised me had been set up. "Well, we'll talk more in the morning." She took off her boots and goggles and climbed into bed. "Nighty-night."

I lay down on the cot and pulled the scratchy gray blanket over me. "Good night."


	5. Chapter 5

"Wakey-wakey!"

That was my only warning before Rikku pulled the blanket away from me and started tickling my feet.

"Wha—"

"Rise and shine!" Rikku said, and the sight of the barely dawn-touched sky on the western horizon told me it was way too early for anyone to be this perky. "We've got a busy day today!"

I kicked her hand away and rolled over. "All right, I'm up. I'm up. What we doing?"

Rikku grabbed her goggles and her boots. "I am going to get started on that puzzle the queen's brought me. You are going to go on some errands."

"Errands?" I strapped on my boots, while Rikku tapped her foot by the ladder.

"Just a couple of deliveries in town," Rikku descended the ladder and I followed her. She crouched down under the table and picked up good-sized box, which she subsequently handed off to me. "Carry that, would you?"

"Sure thing." The box was too large to balance comfortably in one hand, but too small for two hands to feel right. It was also painted in an eye-smarting shade of yellow green.

"That's some very precious cargo," Rikku said, as she led me out of the room and down the hall. "You'll take that to Besaid. It's just to the east of here."

My brain lit up in recognition of the name. "Oh, I know where that is. Someone from Besaid helped me get here. Lulu."

"Lulu, huh?" Rikku gave a wry grin. "You'll be visiting her today. Tell her 'hi' for me."

We stopped by the kitchens where Rikku grabbed two pastries, one of which she pressed into my free hand. "We've both got a lot of work to do today," She explained as we walked through the cafeteria, where others were sitting down and having a (relatively) leisurely breakfast.

I took a bite of my pastry—more a samosa filled with potatoes, peas, and curried spices, than the sweet pastries popular on the mainland. My mouth burned.

"How is it?" Rikku tilted her head towards me.

"Water? Please?"

Rikku nibbled on her pastry, and grabbed a canteen that hung from the hook next to the cafeteria exit. "Fill that up; you'll need it." I set down the box and the pastry and then filled the canteen with water. Rikku shut off the tap before the canteen overflowed. "Small sips. Don't need to waste any water."

Despite her warnings, I drank deeply. Rikku sighed. "You'll be using the skimmers today. Follow me into the hangar."

The not-quite-empty room of the night before was today filled with scores of Al Bhed all loading and unloading vehicles of all kinds.

"You could call us traders, I guess," Rikku said. "We restore and rework old mainland components into new machina and then deliver them and other cargo across Spira." Alongside the skimmers were wind powered buggies, boats, and exactly one airship.

"That's the Fahrenheit," Rikku explained when my noticed turned to it. "Pops wants to get it restored and start setting up salvage expeditions on the mainland, but it's not quite there yet. That's kind of his baby right now. Anyway, you'll be taking the skimmer. Ever rode on one of these before?"

I shook my head. "I wouldn't even know where to start." Really, I couldn't even figure out how I'd even sit on one of these.

"Oh, they're easy. Even a kid could ride them."

"When did you learn to?"

"Eight," Rikku grinned, "I'm kinda jealous. But I've got my puzzles to keep me company. Anyway," she pointed to the 'belly' of the skimmer. "That's where the cargo is kept. The box goes in there." Rikku demonstrated the mechanism, and when the door swung open, I could already see a large barrel in there.

"What's that?"

"Your other delivery. That goes to Lulu at the Onion Knight Cafe. You'll know it, it's the only watering hole in down. The box goes to Yuna in the plaza square. Deliver Yuna's first; she's a very important person with some very important business. Also, let her know that I'm still going to brew those up for her. And if she has something to tell you, listen." Rikku gave me a wink.

"Got it."

Rikku handed me a pair of goggles. "'Cause sand in your eyes hurts," Riding one of these is fairly easy. Just lay down on your stomach like this, and then the ignition is right here." She demonstrated. "You steer with your body weight."

I fixed the goggles around my head. The crystal lenses were as clear as fresh glass, not clouded at all. "How do I stop?"

Rikku pointed to the inside of the handlebars. "Just squeeze these levers and you'll stop in a jiffy." She offered me her hand and allowed me to stand up on the wing with her. Then she jumped down. Her soft-soled boots made a puff sound as she landed on the hangar floor. "Let's see if we can't get you out safe and sound. Start it up."

I got into position, and found the ignition. The engine hummed beneath me. Slowly, with the guidance of both Rikku and a ten-year-old named Shinra, I managed to get the skimmer out of the hanger without crashing into anything—or anybody.

The sun had just come over the horizon, and the desert's night chill was just starting to subside.

"Anyway! I'll see ya!" Rikku waved to me.

"Hey! Wait!"

"Gotta get work! Say hi to Yunie and Lulu for me!"

And that's where Rikku left me to figure out the rest of the delivery on my own.

\--

Of course, if I thought Rikku was actually going to leave me alone just because she abandoned me before I was comfortable handling the skimmer or driving in unfamiliar territory, I would have been mistaken.

"How are you doing out there?" Rikku's voice shouted at me from somewhere around my neck. Right. She had given me a communication device earlier. "Ahh! Right! You probably shouldn't speak if you're still on the skimmer! Watch out for the cacti!"

I took a sharp left, narrowly missing the group of saguaros that had suddenly appeared in my field of view. I stopped the skimmer so I could talk. "How'd you know?"

"You weren't really crashing, were you?" A pause. "It was a safe guess. Cactus, desert, it's kind of obvious. Hurry up and get to Besaid!" Rikku cut out.

I restarted the skimmer and set off again.


	6. Chapter 6

After seeing the Al Bhed Home, Besaid seemed like a much smaller town—little more than a village, actually—than it had the evening before when Lulu and I rode in from Bevelle. I parked the skimmer outside the gates, and took the box for my first delivery from the cargo bay.

Then, it was time to find Yuna.

"Umm…excuse me?" I approached a woman dressed in lapis blue with the intent of asking directions. She ignored me, and in fact made a point of giving me a dirty look, particularly focused on the box I carried. Still, I tried. I had to make this delivery after all. "Could you tell me how to get to the village square?"

"I'm sorry, I don't speak Al Bhed."

But I hadn't spoken Al Bhed either. I almost said something to that effect and thought better of it. Either I was one of the Al Bhed—with whom I'd been repeatedly warned that the Yevonites were not fond of—or I was a mainlander—in which case most of the denizens of Spira would hardly be any more welcoming of me anyway. More importantly I needed to make a delivery, not a snappy comeback.

I did actually find the village square complete with a dried out fountain. A young woman sat on the ledge, and around her several small children and elderly people surrounded her. When she looked up and saw the tell-tale green box, she smiled and waved me over, the first friendly face I had seen since coming into Besaid.

"Over here!"

"Are you Yuna?"

"You're here for the delivery?"

I nodded.

"I was expecting Brother. He's been doing the deliveries lately, ever since Rikku—" her eyes widened and I realized that they were each a different color, one blue and one green. "Oh, Rikku sent you?"

I nodded. "She's doing a commission for the queen—Queen Ashelia of Dalmasca—so I'm acting as her servant." I opened the box, revealing six vials, each the length of my hand and about as wide around as my middle finger. "She says not to worry; she'll keep brewing up this mix for you."

Yuna lifted a bottle from the box. The sun shone through the pearlescent liquid. What Yuna saw from that, I couldn't tell, but she smiled. "Nice to meet you, Penelo. Will you fetch the eyedropper from my supplies? The one painted blue."

She pointed to small basket next to the fountain while she continued to talk to the paitients. I found the dropper with a small blue band painted around the top and handed it to her. I noticed that adults all brought children to the front, and one by one, Yuna put a drop the into their mouths.

"Rikku does important work," Yuna explained as more children lined up. "She's developed the closest thing to a remedy for victims of the Sin plague."

"Sin plague?"

"People...get sick. We don't know how it's spread exactly, or why it affects some people but not others, or why it takes longer for some people to show symptoms, but Rikku's medicines seem to delay the final effects." Yuna patted the head of another child, but she never stopped working.

Finally, Yuna reached the end of the vaccination supply, even though a group of villagers still waited for their take. "Not enough," she murmured, as she checked the box again. She lifted the lining that the vials had rested upon, and a smile crossed her face. "There's a message." Yuna removed the note curled up in the last and flattened it out. She handed it to me with an appraising stare. "It's for you."

Yuna handed me the note hidden in the box. There, in Rikku's handwriting, were the words, "Tell Yuna about the commission."

"Rabanastre has a problem with the water supply. People are slowing turning into stone and getting poisoned. The queen wants Rikku to develop a water treatment." I summed it up as neatly as I could, and when I did, a smile crossed her face.

"Is that a good thing?"

Yuna shook her head. "No, not at all. I'm sorry to hear about Rabanastre, but perhaps..."

"Perhaps?"

"Perhaps her work with Rabanastre will serve another purpose as well." Yuna took my hand, "I hope that she's successful in the Queen's endeavor. It truly was a pleasure to meet you Penelo. Tell Rikku I will be requiring extra vaccinations tomorrow."

As I walked away from the fountain, I wondered what she and Rikku knew, and what it was that they were planning.

\--

My next task in Besaid was the delivery to Lulu at the Onion Knight Cafe. I recalled seeing the large covered stall near the town's entrance. Good thing too, because I'm not sure even Vaan would have the puppy-dog energy required to lug what had to have been five gallons of liquid between the skimmer and the cafe.

I really should have made him come along, I thought as I dragged the jug across the town entrance. While I struggled, I swear I could hear the snickers of a few of the town's residents, but I made it to the cafe, even if I was sweating and panting by the end of it. I set it down by the counter, and an older man in a red coat smirked as I set it down.

"It's not going to do much good there," Lulu called out to me, and then suddenly a woman more elegant than even the queen emerged. Her black hair fell in several braids down her back, and framed an expression that managed to be warm, amused and sour at the same time. "Bring it back here. Or better yet. Wakka! A hand?"

"Yes, ma'am." A burly red-haired man in a chef's apron emerged from the back.

The woman pointed to the jug of liquid. He glared at me. "Did your fancy handcart machina break on the way or somethin'?" But he lifted the jug easily and placed it in a stand that had been crafted to hold it. "Stupid greedy Al Bhed." He then walked away.

"Uh…"

"Don't take it personally. No one in Besaid has much love for the Al Bhed," Lulu explained, "Especially regarding this delivery. What do you think is in that jug?"

I tilted my head. "Some kind of drink."

"You could say that. But it's not a special brew. It's just seawater, that's been poured through an Al Bhed machina to make it potable." I looked at the jug I carried in a new light.

"The Al Bhed charge you for water? Oh, the Sin Plague? Yuna told me about that."

"Exactly," Lulu said, "once upon a time, the Yevonites and the Al Bhed where roughly equal in their power on the island. We had the connection to the island's Espers while the Al Bhed worked with salvaged machina. After the Sin Plague came, though, the Al Bhed were able to create the machines that allowed them to purify the sea water, while we were stuck with the fresh water."

"But that's only until the Sin Plague is cured, right?"

Lulu shook her head. "It's been twenty years now. There has been progress, but…"

"But what?"

"But the person most capable of developing a permanent solution is an Al Bhed. And so, she won't because the Al Bhed are better off because of the plague."

"Rikku?" I asked, "But she seems like she's really eager to help."

"She might be. But, her father is the one who makes the rules regarding how Al Bhed inventions can be shared. And even though we share the same coast, he sees no reason why anyone other than the Al Bhed should have access to the machina that can purify water. He doesn't mind charging us a small fortune for a few gallons of potable water, though." Lulu pushed a bag forward. It wasn't light.

I honestly didn't know what to say. "I'm really sorry..." How much could the Al Bhed charge for one barrel of water?

Lulu looked thoughtful. "It's not your fault. I just wanted to let you know so that you didn't take the village scorn so personally."

"I know…"

"Anyway," Lulu brushed her hands on the front of her skirt, "you have other things to worry about most likely. I take it that Rikku is working on the Queen's commission."

I nodded.

"Tell me one more thing," Lulu said, "did Cid sign off on Rikku doing this project?"

I hesitated. "He did. But he's not exactly in the circle regarding this project."

Lulu lifted her brow, and I think it was with that perfect arch that I saw the connection between what was going on in Rabanastre and what Rikku was working on. "Penelo, you will have the full support of Yuna and myself in this endeavor."

"Thank you, ma'am." I bowed.

She pushed a purse towards me, "Payment for the water and the medicine. Make sure Cid gets them, and watch out for the bandits, we've heard rumors from the north that bandits were seen in the area."

"I will. Thank you for the warning."

"I look forward to seeing you again."

"You too."

Lulu turned her attention to the man in red, who himself appeared to look at me appraisingly. Then, he smirked, turned away and inquired politely about the appearance of bandits. I took the bag of gil away and returned to the skimmer.


	7. Chapter 7

Despite Lulu's warnings about bandits, I managed to reach Home without incident. The rough part happened after I pulled into the hanger, where Cid and Brother were waiting for me. The other Al Bhed—save for Rikku who presumably locked herself in her workroom once I left—surrounded us, half watching us and half paying attention to their own work.

"Money," Cid held his hand out.

I handed him the bag. "Come with me."

I followed Cid to a small workroom just off the hangar. Brother followed us too, and though he motioned me through the door, he himself stood outside to guard us. Shelves were lined with engine parts and other metallic components, but the actual table in the center was bare and polished, except for a single machine. Cid sat down and poured the contents of the bag through the machine, while I sat watching him.

"Is this all?" Cid asked.

I nodded. "That's all they gave me."

"They're short," Cid scowled, "but then, you can't really trust the Yevonites to remain fair on the deals. Did they give you any notes or anything."

I shook my head. "No, sir."

"If they do, pass them on to me. How's Yuna?"

"Excuse me?" Did he know about the note Rikku sent for her?

"She's the young lady who gives out vaccinations to the Yevonites. How's she doing?"

"Oh. She seemed very happy."

Cid stood up, and frowned less than he usually did. "That's good. I'd hate to hear that the Yevonites were treating her badly. Now get back to Rikku, unless you want to get put to work here."

"Yes sir."

I couldn't get out of there soon enough.

\--

"You're back!" Rikku practically jumped me as soon as I walked into her work room. "What took you so long? How'd it go?"

"I had to help Yuna administer the vaccine," I said "and then I had some interesting conversations with her and Lulu. About your work and how it connects with some other things. And then your father stopped me to collect the money."

"Ugh..." Rikku's face turned gray. "Pops is just—anyway while you were out chit-chatting with Yuna and Lulu, I've been running some tests on that water sample of yours." She seemed to stand there waiting for some sort of reaction.

"And...?" I finally asked when she didn't go on.

"And it's confirmed. I am a genius." Rikku looked thoughtful. "Honestly, when I read about the details of my assignment, I wondered about something. So, I did some tests, and now I know."

"Now you know what?"

Rikku looked at me closely. "What do you know about the water situation on Spira?"

"It's not cheap?" I told her about Lulu's cafe, and Wakka coming out and yelling about the Al Bhed's ripping them off. "And in order to drink the water on Spira you need to either purify it or take that treatment Yuna gives everybody…and it has something to do with sins."

Rikku stopped me. "Sounds like you've got the effect, but not the cause. This island has something we call the 'Sin Plague' that's in the water supply. It's only in the freshwater though, not in the seawater around us. Back before we developed that treatment up in Luca, people used to suffer the same fate as your basilisked people. Now that we have the medicine, people aren't so bad off as long as they can get regular doses."

"So you can just make a bunch of them and send them off to Rabanastre?"

"Not exactly. First, it's a pain in the heinie enough to make in quantity. If you're drinking contaminated water you have to take the treatment once a week, or else you lose the protection. It's fine for Spira, since there's so few of us and all of it gets manufactured local. But for a city the size of Rabanastre? Not very likely."

"What's the solution then?"

"Do what the Al Bhed do, change out the drinking water."

"You filter it."

Rikku jumped around and tilted her head. "Not the fresh water. We haven't actually found anything to or filter neutralize out the toxin in water supply that works any longer than an hour or so. So we use seawater from the Baaj. Mom invented a desalination device that filters out the salt. Run it through enough times and you've got 100% safe water."

"As long you live by the sea, and have the desalination device."

"Exactly," Rikku said, as she pointed to the device in the kitchen. "We've got one. Every Al Bhed home has one, and all the Al Bhed travelers have supply of clean water that's been filtered through one. But if you're not Al Bhed or living under their protection, then you're kind of out of luck." Rikku shrugged and shook her head.

I made the connection. Lulu's cafe bought the filtered water, and not for a pittance if the pile of coins Cid had given here was any indication. I whistled. "You guys sell it."

"Exactly," Rikku looked a little glum. Then she seemed to clear up almost instantly, "Anyway, filtration won't work for you. Rabanastre is too far from the sea. And if you're still functioning now, I assume the Queen has secured some water."

"It's the wet season now. We've got barrels collecting the rainwater."

"Ah. So the desalination machina isn't going to help you. For you guys, we need to treat the water directly. And that's what makes your Rabanastre project interesting. C'mon, I'll show you."

She pulled a bent roll of paper out from the bottom of the pile. "The problem with dealing with Spira's water supply directly is that Archades sealed off the source of all the fresh water ten years ago." Rikku opened the paper as well as she could. It was a map.

She pointed to the mountains in the far northwest of the map. "This is the Zanarkand Font. It's the source of all freshwater on the island. Whatever is poisoning the water is in there. Take care of that, and we can cure the Sin plague once and for all."

"So why not do that?"

Rikku sighed. "Archades sealed it off ten years ago. We can't access it to get samples, and we can't access anything directly to the font to test out remedies."

I saw where Rikku was heading, "But if you have Rabanastre's water supply to test out a cure with and investigate, then you've got something to go on."

"Exactly. Well, we can't know if Spira's and Rabanastre's problems are the same one, but it's the best chance we have right now. The water looks the same at least. If Rabanastre can find something suspicious in the water supply, a source, or a higher concentration of the toxin, I can figure out something."

Rikku sat down. "You have a map of Rabanastre's waterways by any chance?"

"Not on me. But I do have it back in Rabanastre." I explained how the Garamsythe water way worked. And Rikku jumped up and down. "This is perfect." She grinned, "100% perfect. I am such a genius. Get the map of Rabanastre, and tell your queen to send over anything interesting."

She took my hands. "We might do this!"

"So what do we do?"

"Well, I need to review my notes. You need to collect some samples for me: some from Rabanastre and some from Zanarkand."

"But you said we couldn't get samples…"

"Not fresh ones. But there are some older ones still floating about."

I groaned.

Rikku shook her head. "Sorry, pun. Anyway, if you go to Besaid you could we could get another sample. You could start with asking Yunie if she can scrounge up some more. Tell her it's for her dear friend and cousin."

"Cousin?" That's right, Cid had seemed concerned for Yuna. "She's Al Bhed?"

"Half Al Bhed, actually. Her mom was my aunt and Pop's sister. She married Braska, who was a Yevonite priest and healer and he... Braska was the reason Archades sealed off the Zanarkand Font, and the only person who was ever able to stop the plague temporarily. No one is quite sure how he did it—probably something to do with magic." Rikku wrinkled her nose at that word.

"What wrong with magic?"

"It's cheap. Now if we can get back on topic—anyway, no one knows how Braska did it, only that he died in the process. The samples he took from the Font before that are the only ones that have ever been collected, and only two people would have them. Yuna is one."

"And who's the other?"

Rikku opened her mouth, hesitated, and then shut it again. "Someone who isn't very likely to just lend us his, even if we could find him. So tomorrow, you head into Besaid and see if Yunie has any more samples when you deliver the medicine tomorrow."

"Will do." I smiled. "But why not today?"

She wrinkled her nose. "Pops. If I have you going in and out of Besaid, he's going to get suspicious. And if I have you going back out to Rabanastre so soon, your queen won't think I need you, and you'll be put on some other royal business."

Rikku pulled down her goggles and bent over her notes, "now then, it's time to fetch some dried malboro vines, a dram of powdered medusa fang, and then get us both some sandwiches and coffee, though not with the alchemical ingredients thank you very much. No sense being idle now is there? We've got plenty of things to do here."


	8. Chapter 8

The next day, I made the deliveries to Besaid again. The villagers were marginally warmer to me than they were they day before.

When I asked her about the samples her father gave her after we'd finished giving the current bunch of villagers their treatments. Yuna shook her head. "I'm sorry. I already gave Rikku all I had. I'm really, really very sorry, but I don't have any more of them."

"Hmm…did he say anything to you about the font itself?"

Yuna shook her head. "He died when he cleared the spring the first time; it wasn't even him who gave me the dried out sample directly."

"Oh?"

"It was Sir Auron," Yuna looked distantly as though gazing at a glum memory, "when he returned to Besaid with my father, he knelt down and gave me a little glass bottle. He said that it was very important, and that it would be the key to curing everybody and finishing the job my father started."

"Who's Sir Auron?" I guessed he was the other person that Rikku thought would have a sample, though she, at least, seemed glum about her chances.

"He was with my father when he initially went into the font," Yuna explained. "He managed to escape whatever it was that got my father. Oh!" Her expression brightened. "Sir Auron's in town."

"He is?"

Yuna nodded. "He comes around sometimes, and helps out with our bandit problem occasionally. He usually hangs around at the Onion Knight. You might run into him," Yuna smiled and took the hand of a coughing child who had come to see her. "Excuse me…."

I gave a quick bow. "Thank you!" I called as I ran off!

\--

Like the delivery of the medicine, my reception at the Onion Knight was also slightly less cold than the previous day. Wakka merely scowled when he replaced the water barrel, and then retreated into the back where the smell of a roasting desert partridge made my mouth water.

"Is Sir Auron here?" I asked Lulu softly as she passed me the day's payment.

She pointed to the man in the red coat and who was drinking out of a large jug that he kept at his side. "I'll introduce you two."

"Thank you."

Lulu approached Auron, who behind his mirrored spectactles, hid one scarred over eye and one open one. Something had hit him, and permanently, to have visited a healer and still have such a prominent scar. "Sir Auron, I would like to introduce you to Penelo. She has been here in Besaid on business."

Auron looked me up and down appraisingly, taking particular note of my eyes. Rikku would have called him one of the smarter-than-average Yevonites, who understood the true distinguishing features of Al Bhed rather than taking the pale hair for granted. True, Al Bhed were born with lighter hair than most Yevonites but blonde hair was hardly a rarity on the mainland. "Not from around here are you?"

I shook my head. "I'm from Dalmasca. Rabanastre." I explained to him briefly the issue with Queen Ashe and the problems with Rabanastre's water supply.

"One question," Auron asked when I was finished and asked if he would speak with me about what happened at the Font of Zanarkand, "You speak of Rabanastre and Dalmasca. What of Spira?"

"I…don't know. Rikku thinks whatever works for Rabanastre might also work for Spira."

One good eye stared at me. "Might?" He sounded amused.

"We can't be sure."

"No more than anything else. You've been working with the Al Bhed. They have not been cooperative in finding a permanent solution."

"That doesn't mean anything! If Rikku is correct then the problem with the Garamsythe and the Zanarkand font are exactly the same. So the solution that works for one will probably work for the other. And she cares, even if her father doesn't!"

"The Zanarkand Font comes with history," Auron said, "to think that something at Garamsythe will directly solve Spira's crisis is naïve, even if you did have an alchemist willing to try. If you are looking for Braska's story, I have no time to grind the old tales into the ground when it will serve no purpose."

"Actually…Rikku requests that you could lend her your sample."

"I refuse." Auron said, turning back to his drink, a definitive end to the conversation.

"But…"

Lulu looked at me apologetically. "It's better not to push this matter." She tapped me on the arm, and pulled me into the secluded corner of the kitchen. "We support the cleansing of Rabanastre, of course, but Auron's sample is the last one that comes directly from the font. We can't risk it being ruined if it's not going to help us."

"I understand. Does Sir Auron hate the Al Bhed?"

Lulu shook her head. "Sometimes, I think he dislikes the Al Bhed, the Yevonites, and the mainlanders equally for allowing the problem with the font to continue for so long. But he has a reason for mentioning the Al Bhed. Most of them have no interest in cleansing the Sin Toxin from the water."

"But Rikku's different," I protested.

"She may be, but those who would want to help are forbidden from doing so with a penalty of exile or execution. Rikku used to live in town for a while, working with Yuna and some alchemists at the Archadian Luca University to develop the cure for the toxin. With her on the project, they managed to progress more in one year than they had in the previous ten. Rumors went around that the Alchemists would cure it in a year."

"And then Cid caught her?"

"Exactly," Lulu said. "It happened at my tavern. Rikku and Yuna were going over the alchemy notes when Rikku brother made the delivery of treated water. After that, Rikku was forced to move back into home, in the seven months since she's moved back, she's only been in town twice, both time under heavy supervision."

"Oh."

"I don't doubt that Rikku is using the Rabanastre project as a step to finding the solution for cleansing Zanarkand. But the Yevonites are not going to trust the intentions of an Al Bhed, even a good one."

"I understand." I shuffled away. Rikku of course was going to be displeased with the results. To tell the truth, I wasn't too thrilled with them myself. But setbacks were setbacks, and at the moment I wasn't sure what else I could do except hope that a way around this problem would come to light.

\--

As I prepared the Skimmer to head back into Home, the crackle of the comm device warned of Rikku's incoming communication.

"How'd it go?" Was that an explosion in the background?

"Badly. What was that?"

"Oh, just a teeny boom is all. Yunie doesn't have anything more?"

"She says she gave you everything."

"Oh." Rikku sounded as glum as I felt. I took a sip from my canteen. "Well, there is that other person… I was just hoping we wouldn't have to."

"Sir Auron? No go. He turned me down flat."

"Bleh. That's just what I thought."

"So, what do we do now?" I leaned against the skimmer and waited for further instructions. No answer.

"I guess you come back, then and prepare to go back to Rabanastre. We'll make do with what we can get."

I sighed. "Roger."


	9. Chapter 9

On my way back to Home, a man rode his chocobo straight into the path of my skimmer. When I attempted to change course another person on chocobo-back came into my path, and then when I moved again, another joined them. I slowed the engine. They slowed as well.

"Watch out!" I shouted, as though that warning would get through to these people if the growling engine or the sight of a skimmer heading straight for him hadn't already. They stayed on their pace and in my peripheral vision I could see more chocobo riders closing in on me.

Great. Bandits.

I took a sharp turn, nearly ran into that same saguaro patch, felt the needles fly past my face as the bottom of the skimmers disturbed a flowering cactoid patch.

" _Tuh'd suja!_ " Bandits came rushing around me. Great. Just what I needed today. My fingers flexed. Sure it had been a while since I had done any offensive magic, but that didn't mean that the spells weren't still safely stored in the pit of my heart.

"What?" I raised my hands in the air and waited for an opportunity. About ten of them surrounded me, not very good odds, no matter how weak they might be. "I'm sorry, I don't speak Al Bhed."

They all looked at each other.

"Hand over your money and the skimmer and no one gets hurt." I watched them as they closed in. Their hands on their swords were clumsy, and the blades themselves looked dull and chipped underthe desert sun. And as they gathered in closer—for what reason, I had neither interest nor need in asking—they set themselves up for a prime spell.

Whatever they had expected from me, Sleepga was definitely not it. Two of the bandits had remained out of range of the spell, and a third had either carried an amulet against sleep or just had a lucky moment, but either way, three against one, especially when I had an Aeroga spell just itching to get out, seemed like much more favorable odds. When the two out of range bandits when down went down, two of the bandits had already woken up, and managed to get a few scratches in before a Thundaga took care of the rest of them.

Ten bandits down and only the slightest scratch to show for it, and a basic cure spell could take care of that. The dust on my jumper was another thing entirely, and the sound of my hands brushing off the dirt was joined by the sound of a slow clap behind me. I turned.

Sir Auron walked his chocobo forward.

"Think you could do that for another group of bandits?" he asked.

I turned towards them. "Sure thing."

Auron led me to two more groups of bandits. An Al Bhed skimmer made for a delicious looking target, and once they were herded together, the two of us could dispatch an entire force of bandits within a minute.

"Thank you." Auron said once

"No problem. I took a deep breath. Gods knew these opportunities didn't come twice. "Would you reconsider lending Rikku the sample?"

Auron turned his penetrative gaze towards me. "If you can get Rikku to meet me at the desert crystal tonight, we can discuss it then.

At least this time it wasn't a definite no. "Roger!"

\--

To say that Cid was unhappy when I returned the skimmer to the hangar was an understatement. He was livid, and most likely the only thing that kept him from sending me back to Rabanstre was the promise of oodles of gil.

"What took you so long? Too busy socializing with those damn Yevonites?"

"Bandits." It was true enough, and most people wouldn't expect someone like me to be able to deal with them as efficiently as I did. I handed over the day's bribe.

His eyes narrowed.

Cid counted the coins. "Short again."

Maybe they don't actually have the money to pay your high prices for clean water and medicines I wanted to say, but I didn't. Though the commission was technically between Rikku and Queen Ashe, Cid could and probably would put a stop to the work if he caught wind of what we planned to do or if I indicated that I knew too much about what was going on with the water here. So, for the sake of Spira and Ivalice, I bit my tongue.

"I'm going to see what Rikku's doing." I bowed out of Cid's workroom and made my way to the much friendlier environment of Rikku's.

\--

"What took you so long?" Rikku yelled when I opened the door to her workroom. Her notes were spread out everywhere, and her face was blotchy—possibly from tears. I didn't know that Rikku could cry.

I grinned. "I ran into some bandits."

"You're making it sound like good news."

I couldn't help myself from laughing. "It a way it was. Because of the bandits, I managed to work something out with Sir Auron." I told her about running into the bandits, and then Sir Auron recruiting me to kill the other pockets surrounding Besaid, "So afterwards I asked him about the sample again, and he didn't exactly say 'No.'"

Rikku jumped up. "Really? Score!"

"He wants to meet you in person."

Rikku's enthusiasm died instantly. "Oh…that's not so good. Pops isn't going to let me outside."

"So, he doesn't need to find out."

"Yeah. But all the ways in and out of Home are guarded. It's not like sneaking out is exactly easy."

I noticed. If it wasn't Brother or Cid hovering around the hangar as I arrived, it was at least one Al Bhed outside the front door and no way to move past them.

"What about an invisibility spell?" I asked.

Rikku crinkled her nose at the term "spell" but she looked thoughtful. "An invisibility potion could get me out and in again. Get me some of my powdered mirror scale and mercury."

"But I know how to vanish people." I said. Mercury? Really? I guess despite Rikku's chipper demeanor, her devotion to alchemy was just as fanatical as any old-guard chemistry professor on the mainland.

"And I'm sure you do a great job at it," Rikku said in her most patronizing tone, "now get me my ingredients."

"What's wrong with magic?" I said as I climbed the ladder in Rikku's storage closet and found the vials for mercury and powdered mirror scale.

She sighed. "Magic is over-simplified. It overlooks the subtle interactions that are the heart of great alchemy. Plus, it's inconsistent. A good white mage can raise the dead, but anyone can use a well-crafted phoenix down and know exactly what they're going to get." I handed her the materials.

Five minutes and a puff of smoke later and Rikku poured a silvery liquid into two vials—one for now and one for later.

"So, here's the plan." Rikku tore a scrap of paper from her journal and drew a quick sketch of a flower, and scrawled something out in barely legible imperial. I'm going to go invisible. You're going to stay not invisible."

"Why, I asked?"

"I was just about to tell you that. There are two big problems we need to think about when it comes to sneaking out. First is just getting me out and in again. We have the invisibility potion. So that's that. The other problem is Pops checking in on me. If I don't come downstairs in the evening for dinner either he or brother is going to come up here and spy on me. Well, that and deliver food.

"And I'm going to remain visible because…"

Rikku paced. "Because you're going to be my alibi. I want you to go downstairs to the kitchens and pick us both up some food and a canteen. Make sure to tell the cooks—really loudly—that I'm going to be really busy tonight, and that I have some nasty pranks made up for anyone who disturbs me."

"Got it."

"And then, when you head out the front door, you're going to tell anyone there that I sent you out looking for a Desert Tear. Between that and the kitchens, they'll just think I'm so super busy that I can't be interrupted."

"I see."

Everything went fine, I think, until it came to sneaking out the door. Cid was among the Al Bhed gathered at the front door. Great. Just our luck. Didn't Rikku's father have something else to do?

"Where are you going?" I could feel Rikku stiffen just behind me. I could hear the sharp intake of her breath. Gods keep her quiet I hoped; and let Cid back down.

I showed him the picture of the Desert Tear. "Rikku says she needs one of these."

"One of those, huh? How's progress going?"

"Good. Couldn't be better. She's got her head down and her backside up."

Cid stared at me, and then at the spot just behind me where Rikku stood and then back at me. He shook his head, as though clearing it of an illusion. "That's good. I'm glad she's not getting distracted."

"No sir."

"You'd best get on. The Desert Tears usually grow south of here."

I rushed out of the door, and only when I felt Rikku's hand on my shoulder did I release the tension in my muscles.

"Let's hope this meeting with Sir Auron isn't in vain," Rikku said, once we had walked far enough away.

I agreed.


	10. Chapter 10

The first thing we noticed as we emerged into the golden light of the desert crystal was that Sir Auron brought company. Yuna and Lulu waved to us from their

"Yunie!" Rikku ran over to hug her cousin.

"You okay? Uncle Cid's not treating you too horribly?"

Rikku grimaced and pulls away. "Pops is nice, if you forget the grounded for life thing and all that stuff. How's life in Besaid?"

"It's not bad…not nearly as colorful now that you're back at Home."

"Nope. That's me adding the color." Rikku gave a little dance. Then she turned to Sir Auron, and put on her best imperious air. Queen Ashe, she was not. "Now, then, Sir Auron my maidservant Penelo here has told me that you wished to see me in person?"

"Maidservant?" I asked.

She turned to me and scratched her head. "I thought it sounded good." In the background Yuna disguised a giggle with her hand, and Lulu looked anywhere but at me with the faintest smile on her face. Auron only smirked.

"Penelo said that you wanted to see me in person."

Auron walked forward and approached Rikku. "I thought that it would be a suitable test, yes." He reached hand into his coat pocket and pulled out a vial about the side of a potion bottle. Only instead of the comforting blue-green liquid of a potion, there was nothing but a shriveled lump. I looked more like a piece of Diresaur coprolite than a threat to Spirans everywhere.

"Spira first," Auron said, "are you willing?"

Rikku nodded. "Spira first."

"Good." Auron held out the vial and offered it out to Rikku, who held the bottle up in the glow of the crystal and the moonlight and squinted at the contents. "Forgive me, the sample is a little stale."

"Not a problem at all." Then Rikku turned to the vial, "we're going to have so much fun together. Once I have something I'll send Penelo out to contact you. I'll save Spira, but I'd rather fly under Pops's radar for as long as I can."

"We look forward to hearing from you," Lulu said.

\--

After we said our goodbyes to Yuna and the others, Rikku and I trekked back across the desert and into home.

"Man," Rikku said as she took a sip of her canteen, "this was fun. I really missed being out and about, you know."

"Why do you stay there anyway?" I asked.

Rikku shuffled her feet, kicking up tiny clouds of sand. "The Al Bhed are my people, and Pops is still my father, and Brother's still my brother, you know. Plus, if I didn't have access to Al Bhed technology and my array, I wouldn't make nearly the same amount of progress. Plus, it's kind of hard to make progress if you've got a bunch of Al Bhed tracking-machines coming after you…"

I could see that.

"If this is to work, I know I'm going to have to leave anyway. But I'd rather leave with the best possible situation behind me, and that's going to take a little more time."

Home appeared over the horizon, and Rikku pulled out her return dose of her invisibility potion. "Bottoms up!"

When, I—well, we—returned Home, I knocked on the door. Brother opened it with a glare. " _Ryja y meddma nacbald yht lusa eh uh desa._ "

I didn't understand what he said, but it sounded like a complaint so I bowed and apologized anyway. "I'm sorry…"

"What took you so long?" Cid came in from behind Brother. Great, time for another interrogation, I thought. Though I supposed the bright side of this situation was that with the door as wide open as it had been, Rikku already had more than enough time to make her way inside. I let out a small sigh of relief when I hear the faintest trace of her footfalls passing me.

"I got lost…" I explained, looking as sheepish as possible.

Cid squinted at me. "Did you get the thing Rikku sent you for?"

Technically, yes. Rikku was already making her way back to her workroom with our prize, but we hadn't even bothered to search for this Desert Tear, and thus I lied and tried to look contrite at the thoroughness of the defeat. "I looked all over, but I couldn't find anything, not even my way."

"Hmmph." Cid turned away, "Better prepare for Rikku to be in a mood."

"Yes, sir." I slinked away from him. Though I couldn't get away from him fast enough and move on to the next stop, I had to be careful to not be too eager. After all, I had to pretend that I had to admit failure to Rikku, who while she didn't seem that scary, did have access to a number of dangerous components and explosive things. On the other hand once I was sure that Cid was not watching me, I ran as fast as I could to the workshop.

Rikku sat at her desk, still staring at the sample and comparing it to the fresher one I had provided earlier. In front of her were several notebooks spread out.

"So, that was close, huh?" I said, settling down on a spare stool that she procured for me. Rikku said nothing. She just bit her lip and leaned in towards her notes, occasionally scratching her chin with her pen.

"Rikku?"

She looked up at me. "Oh, huh? Umm…I'm going to need you to go back to Rabanastre in the morning and collect some more samples for me."

"But what about…?" I thought of the errands in Besaid.

Rikku looked up and put her pen to her chin again. "Brother can do those. The stuff in Rabanastre is more important. And, no offense, but you're going to be in the way if you stay here."

"Oh."

"But you'll be awesomely helpful if you go back to Rabanastre. So it's win-win."

"What am I going to be doing in Rabanastre?"

Rikku handed me a list scrawled in clumsy-looking Imperial. It was a full page as long as my forearm, filled with drawings and more specific instructions. "You're going down into the sewers, and collecting more data. Plus some actual specimens, not just the water."

"Okay…the problem is the sewers are locked off to unauthorized personnel…"

Rikku stared at me. "Then get authorized. Or sneaky-sneak your way in. I risked my neck for this. Now it's your turn."

I bowed.

"If you're worried about your queen, I got just the thing. Rikku held out a sheet of parchment. My eyes flickered across the list, which was filled with numbers and ingredients. Thankfully, Rikku saved me the trouble of deciphering what was significant about it. "That's the formula for the treatments I give Yuna. Hand that off to any alchemist in Dalmasca and maybe they could manage not to mess it up too badly."

I blinked. "This is perfect. Almost. Thank you!"

Rikku shook her head, but she was grinning ear to ear, so I supposed she wasn't too displeased. "You can thank me by being as thorough as possible."

"Recor-what are recordings?"

Rikku sighed. "I always forget how far behind mainlanders are. Yevonites are one thing, but you guys rule the world." She got up, and walked over to a trunk, inside was something that looked almost like a hand bomb and a glassy looking globe.

"This," she said, holding up the globe. "is a sphere. If you put it in this," she held up the hand-bomb looking thing. "It can record moving pictures. We Al Bhed use it to survey our excavations."

I kind of stared at it gap-mouthed, and then I realized what it really resembled. "Oh! It's just like a navigation screen on an airship. A little bit anyway. It should be pretty easy, I think."

Rikku stared at me. "You're going to have to tell me where you learned how to navigate an airship." Well, she said that, but when I opened my mouth to tell her, she put her finger to her lips. "Save it for after you get back. It'll give me something to look forward to."

"Are you going to miss me?" I couldn't help but ask.

Rikku wriggled her fingers in a sloppy exaggeration of spell casting, "You've got the twinkle fingers, but you're not bad for a mainlander." She winked at me.

I smiled.

\--

Cid hardly said anything the next day when I informed him that Rikku had unceremoniously sent me back to Rabanastre for samples. No sage piece of advice or interrogations about what it was that Rikku wanted, or why I was walking out of home with a piece of Al Bhed technology. He simply grunted and reminded me not to let anyone else handle the recorder.

Just a lucky break for once, I supposed.


	11. Chapter 11

After the mechanical bustle of the Al Bhed Home, and the small town coolness of Besaid, my arrival in Rabanastre—even under the effect of this toxin/curse that seemed to be in the water—felt like a bustling group hug, even before I actually found anyone. The once-busy city had slowed under the duress—certainly fewer people jostled me as I made my way to the palace—but Rabanastre remained my heart's own city.

"The queen wishes to see you immediately," Queen Ashe's head clerk said when word returned to him that I had returned to Rabanatstre."

"Of course."

Queen Ashe looked concerned when I entered the throne room. "How is progress with our alchemist going?"

"Fairly good. Well, she's sent me back to collect some more information, but we're making progress." I walked forward and approached the queen with the formula for the inoculation. "Rikku says that she can't make up enough for our needs right away, but she's sure that, with a recipe, maybe one of our alchemists could brew it up. It's a treatment to mitigate the effects of the basilisk curse to those who have been exposed."

Queen Ashe looked down on the contents and gave a faintly pleased smile. "I pass this on. So what information do you need."

I recited the list that Rikku gave to me, "Maps of the Garamsythe, patient information, extra water samples, and—" I braced myself "—fresh samples from the Garamsythe. Rikku thinks there's actually something there that's releasing the toxin into the water."

Ashe grimaced, but when she spoke her voice remained level. "Return to Migelo's. I will have a messenger deliver the key to you this afternoon. Please choose your companions with discretion." With one raise of the royal eyebrow, I knew exactly who she had in mind.

I bowed. "Thank you, your majesty."

\--

"Penelo!" Migelo's nasal voice greeted me from behind the counter of his shop. "You're back. The queen said you had some business to attend to in some backwater."

"This is just a temporary stopover," I admitted, briefly embracing the elderly Bangaa. I had spent so much of the past few years here that the dimly lit shop with its scent of staling ingredients (quite comforting after being overwhelmed by the multitude and freshness of components in Rikku's supply closet) and the old tried-and-true concoctions. "Is Vaan around?"

"He's out running errands for me right now. Considering that my usual assistant is roaming about some no-name island."

"Can I borrow him for a little bit?" I asked, for once completely ignoring the guilt trip he was laying down on me. "Just for the afternoon, please?"

Migelo opened his mouth to say something, and very fortunately, I'm sure, that's when Vaan decided to come back from his deliveries "What's the job?"

"Queen Ashe has given me permissions to go down into Garamsythe and collect more data for Rikku. I need someone to tag along. It's not just rats this time."

"Sounds like fun. But the waterway's been locked since the curse has started spreading. We're going to need some lockpicks and maybe a lookout as we try to get inside."

"Didn't you hear? I have permission from the Queen. We'll get the key this afternoon. Plus, discretion. We don't want people panicking."

Vaan shook his head. "It's already pretty bad. Anyone who can afford to has already left for Nalbina, and others are camping out on the Giza Plains, no matter that the ground is a sponge this time of year. I'll go."

Migelo gave a heave of his shoulders. "I don't like this idea one bit, but I suppose you two aren't children anymore. Just be safe. It's no use surviving a trek across the world if you to succumb to whatever's lurking below Rabanastre."

"Thanks, Migelo."

\--

The messenger carrying the key arrived a few hours later, and Vaan and I tried to look as inconspicuous as we could as we descended into Lowtown with a knapsack of supplies that Rikku had accompanied me with. Though, to be honest, even with Lowtown being as deserted as it was—most people had either left, as Vaan had said—or were locking themselves inside their dwellings.

"Ready?" I asked him, as I took a deep breath and strapped on the mask and gloves that Rikku had provided. In both cases, the treated leather would provide a rudimentary protection against what we might have been exposed to.

Vaan put on his own protective gear and nodded. "As much as I'll ever be."

I set up the sphere recorder as Rikku had shown me, and then let the gate to the waterway swing open. My hands were shaking.

"Let's go," I whispered to him, "before we lose our nerve."

\--

Appropriately enough, it was where we fought Cuculainn that we sensed the first traces of something suspicious. A foul rotting smell laden with sickness and decay overwhelmed even the dank, unpleasant sewer air. Both Vaan and I had to stop to catch our breath. The only way we could continue was for me to constantly cast an Aero spell behind us, to bring the "fresh" air from the outside.

A bruise colored blob hung from the wall. Vaan shone the light he was given, and honest to goodness, we could see the way it pulsed and threatened to burst. I think we really might have vomited if that happened. But I used the sphere recorder to get a good view from all angles, zooming in on the pulsing bits, and the pod at the top that seemed to connect it to something bigger. The masonry surrounding the big vine had chipped and broken, leaving traces of the wall on the shelf.

"Where do you think it leads?" Vaan asked.

I looked at it, and looked at the map. "South, maybe?" I made a graphite mark on the map showing the exact location of the blob and the direction the pod went in. Then I put on the thick heavy gloves, and took a sample of the...tissue? Cutting it open drained the liquid and released an even more concentrated dose of sheer foulness.

"Gross." Even the masks Rikku provided couldn't shield us. I just had to do this. The faster I took this sample, the sooner we could get out. I collected both the semi-solid and the liquid into separate boxes, and placed them in their own bag. For all that Vaan complained about us packing heavy, I was glad we were prepared now. I wanted as many layers as possible between us and that thing.

"Are we done? This is awful." Vaan covered the breathing hole in his mask with with his glove.

I wished. "Let's check the rest of the locations and make sure this is the only one. If it's not, I'll probably have to take more samples."

We scoured the sewers and found two more, smaller than the first one, and therefore marginally less bad. I took samples from each of them. We had to stop and cleanse ourselves at least three times along the way when our limbs grew shaky, and our bile refused to stay in our stomachs.

When we arrived in Oldtown, everyone who remained in the mostly deserted streets stared.

Vaan leaned in, and then thought better of it when he started coughing. "You know it's bad when even the people in Lowtown take notice of the stench," he said when his throat cleared.

I agreed. More than anything, I wish I could notify the queen that she should prepare a hot bath with the strongest soaps available. I'd soak in there for hours and still probably despair at a lingering trace of the stench. "I think the Queen should get written notice of this, rather than us seeing her personally."

"Agreed. I'm going to take a bath."

Despite myself, I laughed. "That's how you know it's bad."

I followed his own suggestion, using the back entrance to get to my room above Migelo's shop. The last thing I wanted today, (or second-to-last, last being having to go through another expedition exactly like this when the Queen got word of our exploits. That's what city soldiers and guards are for) was to have Migelo commenting on how my smell would drive the customers away.

I found the strongest soap I had in my cupboard, and called up the hottest supply of water I was licensed to use. The magic itself was shaky, and if anyone ever asked why those of us licensed to use magic didn't just call up water for everybody, I'd cite the exhaustion it took just to supply the water for one person.

Meanwhile, I composed the missive in my head:

Your Majesty,

We have found three suspicious growths in the channels, as marked for you on the map. Samples have been taken and will be given to Rikku tomorrow morning. If you wish to investigate further, please fully equip any assignees with saftey equipment and gas masks. Simply being in the presence of the objects is enough to induce nausea, headaches, vomiting and give everyone a malodorous aroma that puts a Marbol King's breath to shame.

Yours,  
Penelo

Not exactly the peak of formality but the letter would be good enough for what I needed to convey. Another messenger came by later with the additional materials requested of the Queen along with the notice that Rabanastre's alchemists were all working to brew the mixture Rikku and provided them. With a sweeping look at the supplies, the sphere recorder, and the sample boxes, I sighed with relief. Everything Rikku had requested was there and procured quickly as well. I'd give my body a chance to rest, and then I'd head back to Spira. Then it would only be a matter of time before all this was a memory.


	12. Chapter 12

"Penelo!" Migelo burst into my room first thing in the morning. At least I had already woken and dressed. "This place smells like you've been wading through sewage."

My head pulsed from the stink as well. Not even a hot Water bath and strong soap could erase the last lingering traces. "That's basically what I've been doing." I felt awful. "How's Vaan."

"Sicker than a Seeq after a three-day festival," Migelo said as he shook his head. "You really should have left that to the city guard."

"Wish I could have," I said. I gritted my teeth and cast the cleanse spell on me. Sweet, temporary relief washed over me. "Talk with the Queen and see about getting Vaan a treatment from one of the alchemsists. Maybe see about getting a supply yourself to pass around."

"How much longer are you staying in Rabanastre?"

The question seemed moot enough considering that I was already busy packing up all the information I gathered while we were down in the sewers. If I left early, I could easily teleport back to Spira and reach the Al Bhed Home before the worst of the desert heat sapped my endurance. "Maybe an hour or two."

How Migelo's ears could droop anymore, I don't know, but they did. "Oh. You should stay around for the treatment."

"I can ask Rikku if I can use one of hers. I'm sorry. I'll be back as soon as I can."

Migelo took my hand. "Be careful."

"Thanks, Migelo."

\--

If I had expected a warm welcome at Home when I returned to Spira, I couldn't have been more wrong. Of course, I hadn't really expected to be welcome at Home as much as I had merely expected one of the Al Bhed to let me in, complete with some insults muttered under the breath in Al Bhed. But I still couldn't have been more wrong.

"Forget about it," Cid said, as he handed back the money I had paid the Al Bhed in advance, "commission canceled. I warned you, there are the right kind of jobs and the wrong kind of jobs. And that commission is definitely the wrong kind of job." Behind Cid, two Al Bhed loomed behind them, modified shotguns at the ready. "Now I suggest that you get out of here before I have you driven off."

"Where's Rikku?" I asked, "I should at least drop off the supplies."

"Don't you worry about Rikku," Cid stepped aside and let the two Al Bhed gunmen take their aim at me. "You should consider your own safety. Find someone else to take care of this problem of yours."

My stomach felt sick and not just from the after-effects of the day before. "Yes, sir." I skulked away from home, wondering just what I'd do next. Not only had I lost the commission, but now both Spira and Rabanastre were locked out of finding the one solution.

\--

Shortly after I left the Al Bhed home I heard the crackle of the comm device. In fact, suspiciously shortly after the metal fortress had left my sights.

"Penelo, this is Rikku, come in."

"Rikku! Why didn't you tell me what was going on?"

Even over the poor reception, I could hear the sheepish note in her voice. "Sorry 'bout that. If you hadn't come, Pops would have been suspicious that we were still in communication somehow. After you left, he went back into my room and dug up the official commission. It didn't take long for him to put the pieces together between the commission and what we were planning to do with the Zanarkand Font. Since then, he's locked me in my room with special high-grade security alarms and forbidden me any visitors."

I felt my heart sink. "So we're doomed."

"Not yet. Isolation sucks, but it means that I got to spend a lot of time with Auron's sample from the Zanarkand Font. I think once we can get inside, it's totally possible to come up with something to kill whatever's poisoning the water once and for all. What about Rabanastre?"

I told her about our trip through the Garamsythe, the sphere, the samples, the map, and the smell. I decided to leave out the part about Vaan and I suffering from what seemed to be a low-level poisoning from the curse.

"Awesome!"

"But they're not going to do you any good. This kind of wrecks our scheme, huh?"

"We'll see about that," Rikku said, "as long as we can talk, I'm far from helpless. Ready and willing to help out, despite what Pops might want to happen. First, get to Besaid. Yunie and Auron can at least confirm whether or not the Rabanastre samples match the Zanarkand ones. And you can all see the sphere at Lulu's cafe. The plan to save Spira isn't getting cancelled on my account."

"But if you can't get us the treatment, then there's no point in this mission."

"Ah. That's the other thing I need from you. I need you to arrange a kidnapping for me."

"Kidnapped? Why not just run away?"

"I'd get caught too easily. Pops has brought other Al Bhed guards to make sure I don't try to run, and I don't trust them not to shoot me. They don't like Yevon-lovers."

I admit I was a little taken aback. "But I thought he was trying to protect you so why..."

"It's not protection," Rikku said, "it's money. Pops and the Al Bhed make shiploads of Gil selling the desalinated water to the Yevonite villages and the treatments I make for them. If the problem goes away, we Al Bhed lose the money, and worse, the Yevonites aren't going to forgive us for profiting off this." Her voice took a turn for the glum, "So if it comes down to my life or keeping the Al Bhed in business...I don't want to have to see that choice."

No, I could definitely see that. "No." My mind started racing, thinking of who exactly I knew who could best kidnap an alchemist. Vaan? Probably not, especially if he hadn't quite recovered from our trip to the water way. Queen Ashe? Did we really want to start another conflict with Archades? The same with Marquis Ondore, Al Cid, and Emperor Larsa. Best to keep the politics as far out of it as we could. What about a proxy? We could have someone hire Bagamnan and his crew. No one would trace either one. But then I'm not sure they would let Rikku free either.

No. There was one obvious choice. Getting Balthier and Fran on short notice would be a reach, but they're pirates and Rikku is a prodigy and the daughter of a rich man. Plus they'd have the Strahl. "Say I could arrange for a kidnapping by Sky Pirates, what would they need to do?"

"Ooh! Kidnapped by sky pirates is good! Well, first, we can figure out a distraction. If you can think of something to do, I can work on a security override to give us a little bit of time. Then, there are the guards, of course. They're not exceptionally well-trained but well enough and armed with modified Archadian-issue semi-automatics. Then, there's this stupid collar that tracks my movements, and any attempt to escape through any of the doors or windows of Home are going to cause intense pain. At least if the power goes down, we can worry about that later."

"So what happens after you get through?"

"We'll meet up somewhere—Yunie, Auron Lulu, and us—and the plan continues on as usual. If we can clear up the font and save everybody, we have to try anything we can."

I agreed, starting to list the ways that I could get in contact with Balthier and Fran. Balfonheim would be likely, even if there might not be as reliable a set to pass on the message. Then I could keep word with Vaan, who served as something of an occasional apprentice to Balthier, and Queen Ashe who had other business with him. They'd be less likely to encounter Balthier or Fran in the next few days, but more likely to convince him. And then, if nothing else, I could set up a backup plan with Larsa. It would need to be discreet of course; the Senate had little love for emperors who were too independent, but even if Balthier and Fran couldn't be located and convinced to help out, it'd be nice to have a back-up, and since Spira is technically an Archadian territory, for all that it appeared to operate independently, it wouldn't appear to be the same act of aggression as it would from Dalmasca, Rozzarria or Bhujerba.

I thought of something else. "What about payment? Pirates and charity are not much of a mix."

Rikku laughed on the other end. "I've got two precious things. First, there's me. I'm a genius and the daughter of the chief of the Al Bhed. I'm totally up for being ransom material, once Spira's saved. And—I actually had an awesome idea. I can give them some blueprints!"

"Blueprints?"

"For the machina."

"What about the machina itself?"

"Nope. It's not portable. But Mom designed it so that even the total technological failures could build it."

"When do you need this by?" I asked.

"As soon as you can arrange it, but if you could get everything done by next week at the latest, that would be really helpful. Let me know when you have something ready. We'll talk then."

"Once I have something, I'll send a signal."

"Good luck."

\--

"Uncle Cid locked Rikku away?" Yuna asked when I arrived in Besaid for a treatment. Thankfully, she could manage a spare dose or two, given out of sight of what would likely be righteously angered villagers. Medicine was precious, why waste it on a mainlander?

I winced at the bitter taste of the treatment and the burning sensation it left in my throat. "Sorry, it's a bit strong." I choked it down. "But yes, he figured out exactly what Rikku was doing for the Queen and made the connection."

Yuna stared at me, with a look akin to a wounded puppy. "That's too bad. Here I thought we would actually have a chance this time. Without Rikku we'd have to find someone else…but it seems like we're back at the beginning."

"Nope. Rikku and I have a plan. We're going to kidnap her."

"Oh…" Yuna gave a faint smile. "How're you going to do that?"

"I have friends," I whispered conspiratorially in her ear. "Can you keep these safe for me, while I get everything arranged? And tell Lulu and Auron not to worry. This is nothing but a little delay."

"Sure thing," Yuna said, "take care."


	13. Chapter 13

Though I had sounded sure when talking with Rikku and Yuna, the truth was that actually finding Balthier and Fran was much harder than one who wasn't familiar with the habits of sky pirates might imagine. With the exception of Archades—a city for which Balthier had more than a faint dislike of—and the Viera settlement in Golmore—where Fran was forbidden from entering—they could be anywhere on the continent and more than a few places off it.

Still, there were a few places I could leave word and probably get in contact with them, and I spent the next few days making my presence known.

Though I should deny these rumors if someone were to mention them directly, it was an open secret at the palace that Balthier often served as the queen's consort. When Queen Ashe heard what I was needed, she gave her best royally distant look. "If any of that sort happens to come by, I shall send them your way."

"That's all I ask, your majesty."

"Also, I ask that you work with the utmost haste, both the soldiers I sent down and Vaan still appear to be out of sorts. Even with the antidote you provided, he hasn't been well."

"Yes, your majesty." Thankfully between my magic and Yuna's treatment, I was still almost in top shape, but Vaan would have his own troubles to deal with.

\--

There were also the Airship docks in all the major cities including the ones in Rabanastre, Bhujerba, Balfonhiem and even Archades. If the Strahl ended up docking in one of them, someone would know and pass the word onto me. And, just for good measure, I left word with the Hunt Club Owner on Phon and Montblanc in Clan Centurio just in case, and the street ear on Archades, just in case they did decide to visit. My most likely prospect for getting into contact with them, however, was the old Sky Pirate's port at Balfonhiem.

"Eh, what's it to me?" the owner of Whitecap Tavern shot back when I inquired about maybe possibly finding Balthier and Fran.

I waved 200 gil or so from Rikku's returned commission at him. "You find some work for some good, honest pirate-folk and I reward you with a finder's fee, how about that?"

That'll do.

The tavern owner plus Elza—who winked at me when I mentioned getting in touch with Balthier, despite my making it absolutely clear that I had no interest in any business with him worth winking about—and Rikken, who just laughed, meant that if Balthier even stepped foot in Balfonhiem, I should hear about it soon enough. That, plus a room at an inn across the court from the Whitecap Tavern and a pile of teleport stones could get me anywhere at a moment's notice, meant that I had the best chance possible of contacting them.

If they ever decided to come back into civilization.

\--

After three days had passed with no word, I started to get a little antsy. I played around with the idea of maybe renting an airship and doing it myself. The problem then would be making the kidnapping look like Rikku hadn't conspired. After all if sky pirates happened upon the richest stronghold in Spira and kidnapped the daughter of the Al Bhed leader that was one thing. Rikku's former servant, who was already known by the Al Bhed to have been conspiring, abducting her would be something entirely different.

So when word arrived that Fran wanted to meet me down at the Whitecap, I nearly danced for joy.

"What you're requiring from us is an abduction?" Fran asked, when I explained to her the details of getting Rikku out from Home. "Why not simply stage this as a rescue?"

"If it was confirmed that Rikku left Home voluntarily, she would be considered an outlaw among the Al Bhed. Thus, we'd likely have groups of them out hunting us." I shuddered at the thought.

"I see," Fran leaned in. "And what would be our reassurance that kidnapping this Rikku would not lead to the same hunt?"

"You would be in Rabanastre soon enough. Once the exchange was done, you could leave Spira for a long time."

"And what would be the reward?"

"You could ransom Rikku off to Cid once we're done doing what we came to do. She's the daughter of a rich and powerful man and an alchemist who makes the Al Bhed a lot of money on her commissions. Plus…" a brilliant idea occurred to me. "plus they have a piece of technology that's highly in demand for the rest of Spira. You could sell that to all the cities and villages for a tidy sum."

"How highly in demand?"

"The village nearest the Al Bhed home pays hundreds of gil a day just for the treated water the machine produces. You could probably charge ten thousand of gil or so in just about any city in Spira and they would consider it a good deal. You'd have to move fast on that opportunity though." I didn't tell Fran that the technology would become obsolete if our mission were successful, but once sold, that wouldn't have been their problem anyway.

Fran's ear twitched as though it heard what I didn't say. "We're good at moving fast," Fran gave a faint smile. "Give us a few days to finish up some other business that we have, and we'll see about heading into this backwater of yours."

"Thank you. I promise it will be more than worth your time."

"We will hold you to that promise."

I paid the tab for our two drinks and added the 200 gil finder's fee for the owner. All and all, I thought, as I prepared for my next trip back into Spira—thank goodness for teleport stones and gate crystals—going about it this way was about as cheap and politically safe as anything I could manage.

\--

Once I arrived on Spira, I clicked my comm device twice—our signal that I wanted to contact Rikku—and waited for her reply.

"Sorry about that," Rikku said a while later. "Had to wait until I wouldn't be overheard. Anyway, found me some evil kidnapping pirate rogues for me yet?"

I smirked. "I don't know if either of them would appreciate the 'evil' descriptor, but once they've finished with other business, they'll be in touch with me."

"All right!" Rikku whispered. "I hear some people coming in, but I'll be back in touch with you tonight."

"Sure thing. They do know where to reach you right?"

"I told them I'd be staying in Besaid, and to talk to Lulu if they needed help finding me."

"Roger. Keep me up to date."

"Of course."

\--

Now that the largest obstacle seemed to be taken care of—that is, finding a way to extricate our alchemist from the depths of Home, I spent more time working on the other aspects of our plan. I spent those few days at the Onion Knight taking care of the other details.

"Where would be the best place to rest once we're out of here? Once we're out, Rikku is going to need to have a place to work. Plus the pirates I'm working with them are a touch…" I thought of Balthier and his disdain for almost anything remotely dirty, "finicky."

"Luca and Bevelle are the major cities and of them Bevelle is closer to the Zanarkand Font. Though Luca is pleasanter."

"Probably we're looking at Bevelle then," I thought aloud, "Once we've got Rikku, we can meet up there and find her a place where she can get some work done."

When the rumors arrived in the afternoon that a few notorious sky pirates had set anchor just outside the village of Kilika, just north of Besaid, I smiled. Looks like Balthier and Fran were already waiting for the opportunity.

"It looks like we're ready to go then."

"About that," Lulu said, as we worked, "We still have one thing in Besaid left to do before we leave for Bevelle. Go get Yuna, and we'll meet here, and everyone can update each other."

"Sure thing."

In the far corner of the Onion Knight, Auron set down his jug and nodded at me.

I ran to find Yuna.


	14. Chapter 14

The four of us gathered at the Onion Knight, and though we all had information to share we tried to keep the gathering casual in case brother chose then to make a delivery: Auron, Yuna, and I as customers at the bar and Lulu serving us. So if we had the map of Spira, and the sphere I took in the Rabanastre waterway, and Lulu happened to let us use her sphere viewers to play the footage, then it was just a coincidence.

"It looks like what we found in Zanarkand," Auron said. "Did you attempt to extract the growth?"

I shook my head. "Vaan and I could barely stand with even the scent. There was no way we were going to try and extract it. I advised the Queen that she should hold off on sending her soldiers until we could confirm that doing so wouldn't bring undue risk for little reward."

"And you think she will heed?"

I considered. Certainly Queen Ashe grew impatient with the delay and the inconvenience of having to communicate between Spira and Rabanastre, an involved process even with the supply of teleport stones in my pocket, but doing so was rash, especially after Sir Auron's and Braska's experience. "If we act quickly enough, I think she'll stay put long enough to make sure we do this properly. Rikku's abduction is planned to take place tomorrow night. Then it's a matter of getting to the Zanarkand Font, getting in, and letting Rikku work her magic, figuratively speaking."

"It sounds simple enough," Yuna said, after she finished laughing. "Of course the execution is going to be something else. We're still going to have some challenges."

Lulu put a small glass of 100 gil distilled water on the bar between us. "Assuming Rikku's kidnapping goes well, and her alchemy is ready, we'll have to gain access to the font itself. Archades sealed it ten years ago after Braska entered the first time."

"Is there any way to break the seal?" At this point, I worried more about the result than the legality or otherwise of any methods handed to us or our chances to get caught.

"My father..." Yuna took something from her pouch, a map, brown along the edges with slightly faded ink. "He left me this. It's the location of an Esper.The Guardian of Spira, Valefor. When he was alive, he controlled it. Others have tried after his death, but most have failed to tame it."

"You think Valefor will help?"

"I think it's necessary," Lulu said, "I've served as a guide along with two others who attempted to repeat Braska's feat, and neither swords nor strong magic have managed to break the seal. The Archadian barrier also appears to be strong against Al Bhed explosives. Valefor might be what's needed."

Yuna looked distant. "If nothing else, the island will recognize Valefor as one of its own and that we're fighting for the sake of Spira."

"Do you really think so?" I had never thought of any of the Espers my friend's I had once commanded in quite that light.

Yuna nodded. "My father truly believed it was so."

"It was through Valefor's power that the first calm came," Auron said, "It's immunity to the toxin alone was advantage enough to destroy the masses contaminating the font."

I tried to figure out what they were saying. "So, you mean that, you don't know if this whole dealie with Valefor will work, but you think it might?"

Yuna snickered. "You've been spending way too much time with my cousin. It will work. If we ask it to, the island will fight with us."

We all looked at each other. Auron just grunted inscrutably, but Lulu gave a small smile. And until Balthier and Fran arrived for their roles, there was little else to do but prepare for eventualities. I supposed, all else aside, an Esper would mean more firepower at our service.

"So, how far is this Esper?"

"Not very," Yuna said, "The Yevonite temple is just up the hill in the center of town, and Valefor is buried deep beneath the earth it's built upon."

I clapped my hand and did what I thought Rikku would do if she were here with us right now. "Okay everyone, let's find this Esper!"

Yuna smiled. I'm not sure what the others thought, but when we left the cafe, Auron followed, and Lulu was not far behind, carrying of all things, a doll sewn and decorated to look like a Nu Mou.

"It can do some amazing things." Yuna explained when she caught me staring at what had to be the silliest weapon I'd seen.

The climb of the fifty-three stairs to the Yevon temple nearly killed my lungs and , but we did make it. At the temple entrance, guards nodded to Yuna, Auron, and Lulu as they passed but as I walked forward a gloved hand grabbed me by the shoulder and turned me around.

"You! You aren't Al Bhed are you?"

I almost whipped around and smacked the guard, but got the better of my reflexes before I could knock him unconscious. For all that I knew that the Al Bhed and the Yevonites did not, as a rule, get along, with Yuna, Lulu and Rikku being the only notable exceptions, I had not realized the Al Bhed were forbidden from entering the Spiran temples. I shook my head. It seemed like a bad idea to mention that I wasn't from Spira at all, so I reduced the truth to its simplest component. "I'm not."

"She is a servant of Spira." Lulu explained to the guard who then squinted at me.

"Looks like an Al Bhed to me. Wasn't she in town a while ago delivering Al Bhed goods?"

Yuna knelt on the ground. "Please, for the sake of my father Braska, let her pass."

The guard looked at Yuna, looked at me, back at Yuna, and then stepped aside. "Very well, but don't cause any trouble, you hear?"

"No, sir."

The maze beneath Besaid's temple was even larger than the building we had entered, and of the five of us, only Yuna could decipher the glyphs in the labyrinth that would show us the way.

"Left," she said. Her normally gentle demeanor intensified. We descended deeper into the hill.

"What's at the end?" I whispered to Lulu.

She leaned towards me, "The esper, Valefor. We're going to fight it, are you prepared?"

My fingers flexed and the magic at their call surged forward. My hands wanted to cast spells again, and my feet already set into a battle stance. "I'm ready," I whispered. The floor of the temple seemed to rise again; the labyrinth moved in three dimensions, but Yuna did not hesitate at the challenge. Her path remained sure.

"We're here," Yuna said, "Everyone, get ready!" Auron drew his sword, Lulu, her--doll?, and I had a staff at the ready. Yuna lifted her hand and pressed it and her cheek to the door. "This is Yuna, from the village of Besaid, daughter of Braska, who died in an attempt to save this island. I wish to form a pact with you."

I held my breath. Would the Esper even respond? Were we even worthy to be in its presence?

Then the door disappeared and a bird rose up from the center of the room, unfurling its wings. A surprising gentleness emanated from this creature. Yuna took three steps forward and reached out her hand. I winced. The espers on the mainland were not known for being overly friendly, but Valefor brought down her head and stared at Yuna. The two of them communed, while Auron, Lulu, and I waited. My breath caught in my throat. If my friends and I had done this on our adventure, there would have been six bodies on the floor of the arena before we could even attempt to speak.

"I understand," Yuna said aloud. "I am prepared to take your test." She bowed to the Esper, who dipped her head in return.

"We're not going to have much time." Lulu said, advancing towards Yuna. Auron followed, and I brought up the rear.

She proved herself right. Valefor made for a tough opponent. The formality of the battle structure itself, the protocol that allowed the Yevonites on Spira to tame the Espers and form pacts, and Valefor's native gentleness had made me complacent in thinking that the fight would be easier than the Espers I had fought before.

Not true.

At one point, I thought Sir Auron would collapse, even though of all of us, he was perhaps the best at taking hits. Only with last-minute healings from Yuna and me did he pull through. Valefor herself fought dirty, as likely to use her vocalizations to render us unable to act, or the beating of her wings to paralyze us as to lash out at us with those giant talons of hers.

It took a concentrated blast of magics, scourge from Lulu, holy from Yuna, and flare from me cast upon and sent from Auron's great katana before Valefor again lowered her head to Yuna, this time in submission. She gathered the Esper's feathery head in her hand and picked through the plumage, as the esper absorbed herself into Yuna's body.

She collapsed at the end. At least that remained true for both all the Esper bonds I've formed and witnessed. Lulu crouched next to Yuna, offering her a potion to drink.

"Is that arm going to be okay?"

Auron gave a grunt. "It'll be fine soon enough. Concentrate on what else needs to happen."

Oh, right. The quest for Valefor, though she may have been the key to opening the way into the Zanarkand font, was far from the only thing that needed to happen tonight.


	15. Chapter 15

At sundown, while Yuna, Lulu, and Auron were saddling up their chocobos and getting a head start to Bevelle, I waited at an oasis just outside Besaid for the Strahl to land. Finally I saw the familiar ship in the sky and the dropping of an anchor.

"Penelo! A little assistance!" Balthier's voice cried from above. The engine idled as I prepared the makeshift anchor. The ship landed in the desert, and Balthier climbed down the rope ladder dapper as always, and Fran followed behind him. Both looked complete unfazed. You'd think they were just getting on another errand. I supposed they were.

"So, how may we be of service this evening?"

"The Al Bhed home has approximately the same level of security as the Draklor Laboratory, though the layout is thankfully not so complex." I spread the map before me. "Rikku's workshop is here" I pointed at a room towards the northern side of the building. "Alarms are at all the entrances and exits. Though Rikku has managed to create a security override that will turn off the generators once we give the signal."

"And what, dare I ask, is this signal?"

"A freak thunderstorm." I wiggled my fingers. "Right over the Al Bhed home—thunderstorm, power outage, maybe some hail, the works. That'll disable the security alarms, and the sensors around the window. That way we can actually get her through the window in her room and deal with the collar later. You've got the tools, right?"

Balthier patted his vest. Of course he would insist to be the one to do the actual kidnapping. The self-styled leading man would never let someone else rescue the damsel. "I never leave the Strahl without them. I find they almost always have a purpose."

"Rikku's windows are barred, so you'll have to undo those. They're same construction that you'd see on a Bhujerban jail."

"Oh, and when have you been in a Bhujerban jail?" Fran asked.

"That would be a story for later." Really, could we not go into those embarrassing little details of the distant past, when we had a kidnapping plan to execute?

"Anyway, that sounds like some serious protection for Daddy's Little Girl," Balthier observed.

I shrugged. It wasn't like Balthier was unfamiliar with the idea of father issues himself. "They are having something of an ideological disagreement, right now. Rikku just happens to be right."

"I see. Well, our business is with the coin alone. As long as that promise is genuine, we've got business here."

"It's genuine. The ransom and Rikku's got some pretty blueprints that she's going to let you share. Good enough?"

"Good enough," Fran said, "Let us delay no further."

\--

Was it fear of excitement that made my hands shake as Balthier and Fran prepared the Strahl for take-off? Did I miss the old times more than I claimed when I had chosen to go back to a staid life in Rabanastre? No matter what, my grip on the comm-device was shaky at best, as I buzzed Rikku a couple of times.

"Penelo!" Rikku's voice was soft in volume but still harsh in tone, with no trace of the sing-song note that it usually carried. I imagined her in her workshop going stir-crazy.

"Ready?"

"Yes! Just get me out of here." I grimaced at the strain in her voice.

The flight between the Besaid Oasis and the Al Bhed Home was laughably short. Sure the iron fortress was almost nothing in comparison to some of the other places we had infiltrated as a team, but this was sharply personal in a way those occasions hadn't been. Genius alchemist or no, Rikku had also become my friend in the time we worked together.

And lurking in the back of my mind, as Balthier set the ship into hover mode. Though the Strahl ran about as silent as one could expect of any Airship, in my hyper-aware ears the sound of the idling engine stood out over even the machines.

"Rikku, we're here. Be ready for the signal." I opened the hatch and looked for my target—the lightning rod on top of the Al Bhed home. It would be a harmless, but obvious distraction.

"Ready. Just get this over with."

My fingers crackled with the static electricity, exacerbated by the dry night air and my own anxiety. The lightning wanted to jump out and escape into the night. The only problem came with controlling the pulses, making them land exactly where I wanted it to. I closed my eyes and counted in my head.

Three. Two. One. Boom.

"Ahhh!" Rikku's shriek pierced my ears.

"Something wrong?" The mechanical sounds around home quieted. Moments after, the voices of the Al Bhed guards began to rise to fill the void.

"Nothing. Nothing at all." A nervous laugh came from the other end. "I'm just a bit twitchy with Thunder spells, that's all. Security is down for five minutes. Get me out of here."

I stepped back inside the Airship and waved over to Balthier, who already had a harness and rope prepared for this event. "Time to rescue the damsel."

I smirked.

While Balthier worked on the window, I took the pilot's seat of the Strahl, just in case the quick getaway was needed. Fran watched down below, in case the Al Bhed thought to walk outside and look up.

"I see your pirate," Rikku said, "one of the romantic ones isn't he?"

"You could say that. I'd call him more theatrical, personally."

"Close enough."

"People are starting to emerge," Fran observed from her post. "They appear to be armed."

"Rikku, tell Balthier to hurry up, we've got some Al Bhed investigating."

"He says he's working on it, and that the bolts are nothing like the ones in a Bhujerban dungeon. He's in. I'm free. I'm free!"

At that point, Fran shouted the warning call. "They've spotted us!"

"We're coming up. Penelo! Balthier says to be ready to floor it!"

"They have vehicles!"

"Skimmers?" I asked, "Once we're off, we won't have to worry about them."

"No!" Rikku shouted, and I could hear her both through the device and outside the _Strahl_ , "They've brought out the _Fahrenheit_. They're going to chase us."

"Hold on! I'm taking off!" I took the _Strahl_ out of idle and focused on gained altitude. I wasn't the most experienced of pilots, but right now we didn't have the luxury of getting everyone situated (or on board) before we took off. Judging from one of Rikku's shrieks, one of the gunshots flew close to them.

"Are you okay?" I said into the comm device.

"Yeah. It just barely missed." Rikku responded in person, as she climbed into the the _Strahl_. "Nice set up you got here. Archadian?"

Balthier shed his harness and helped Rikku out of her own. "Her shell is mostly Archadian, with some improvements from Balfonheim and Bhujerban designs. The engineering is all Moogle-customized though."

Rikku scoffed.

The sound of cannons firing behind us distracted us. "Penelo, can you fly this thing any faster?" Balthier asked. "I would prefer that we lose our pursuers before we land."

"I am!" An idea occurred to me. "We're taking a detour." I made a sharp turn to the southwest.

"To where?"

"Dalmasca."

"Penelo! We don't have time!"

"It'll be short," I said. It had to be. Likely the Al Bhed ship would be able to out run us. The Strahl had a maneuverability advantage and a speed to match our pursuers. On the other hand the Al Bhed ship had weapons. One unfortunate hit would be enough slow us down, or worse stop us. And whether over land or sea, I would prefer we not crash.

The _Fahrenheit_ closed in on us, and around me both Balthier and Rikku thought it useful to mention just when the pursuing airship was charging the cannons. Beside me, Fran took on the infinitely more helpful role of navigator. "Entering Dalmascan airspace," she informed me as the ship shook.

And just in time too, I thought, taking another sharp turn and gaining altitude. "Dalmasca Air Control, this is Penelo aboard the freight class airship _Strahl_ on royal business. You have an unauthorized vessel coming into Dalmasca airspace from 25 degrees west-northwest."

"Roger."

I stepped out of the pilot's seat. "Balthier, all yours."

Balthier sat down and I went back to Rikku. My whole body felt like jelly.

Rikku took my hand. "Look at the little hotshot, being in charge and all! You sounded seriously awesome there."

"You okay?"

"Yeah, fine. You're just going to have to help me walk. We've got one more thing to do." She held up the collar, already an innocuous looking strap in her hands. I took her over to the still open hatch of the ship, and she didn't look like she missed the collar as we watched it casually fall into the ocean.

Nor, when the airship doubled back towards Spira, did Rikku's gaze even once draw towards Home.


	16. Chapter 16

The four of us rendezvoused with Auron, Lulu, and Yuna at Bevelle's main inn. The three Spirans were sitting at the table sharing a pitcher of some fermented beverage or other. I joined them at the table, ready to proceed as necessary. Balthier and Fran stood back against the wall observing both us and the flow of Bevellians. As for Rikku...

"Yunie!" Rikku ran over, the giant bag on her back bouncing up and down precariously, and gave Yuna a hug.

For her part, Yuna seemed just as happy to see her cousin. Her arms wrapped around Rikku's "Good to see you. We were worried about you getting caught."

Rikku put a hand behind her head, "Naa…it was smooth going once we lost Pops and Brother in Dalmascan Airspace. Have you got a workroom ready for me?"

"The university here was kind enough to lend me some of their equipment. Nothing but the best for the daughter of Braska." Until that moment, I hadn't actually realized that Yuna could grin mischievously.

Rikku shook her head. "I'll be happy if they're actually made of glass."

Yuna giggled. Lulu and Auron just exchanged glances.

"While I'm loathe to interrupt this reunion, there are a few more matters to take care of. Our compensation, for one."

"Oh, right." Rikku reached into the satchel she had carried from Home and handed two long, thin rolls off to Balthier and Fran. "There ya go. They don't look like much, but if you go to Governor Mika in the morning and tell them about Top Secret Mainland Technology that can purify their water, they'll give you a fortune for those plans. And, if you work fast, you can sell them to every city in Spira."

In the background, Lulu coughed.

"Well, except for Besaid. We have arrangements with them already."

"And what of the other matter?" Fran seemed unimpressed, "We should discuss your ransom."

Rikku put her hands behind her head. "Not yet. Let Pops cool off and miss me for a little bit before we go walking back into Home. Plus, now that I'm out from under his eye, I think I've got a few shenanigans we need to take care of first. Isn't that right?" She turned to me.

I nodded. "Trust us, it's really important that we go do this."

Balthier balked. "I think you both misunderstand the way this kidnapping thing works."

"Nope." Rikku grinned, "Don't worry, once we're done with what we have to do, I'll come back and be a good little hostage for you."

"And these shenanigans of yours aren't dangerous in any way?"

Rikku shook her head, "No more dangerous than getting airlifted out of the Al Bhed home, being pursued by a modified warship, and then working with corrosive chemicials. It's just another stroll through town, really." Rikku stopped in the middle of the way and pulled the knapsack from her shoulders. "Ready, Penelo? You can carry my supplies, any more and I think my shoulders are going to fall off."

I took the bag from Rikku "I'll get back in touch with you, once we're done. Oh, and if I were you, I'd have the blueprints sold to all the other cities in Spira before then."

Fran tapped one stiletto-covered toe on the tile floor. "And why is that, exactly?"

"Because if—"

"When," Rikku corrected.

"When we're done, those blueprints should be obsolete."

"Ahh, right," Balthier and Fran stepped out. "We shall be taking our leave now. This isn't exactly our crowd, anyway. Be safe, little hostage, or we'll hear of it."

\--

The array Yuna had borrowed from Bevelle University was already set up and waiting for Rikku in one of the Inn's upstairs room.

"A little primitive, but not bad," was Rikku's assessment as she motioned for me to unpack the all the bottles and components she'd been able to salvage from her lab at home. The final items in her bag, the—her work journals—retained the place of honor next to the array. To these Yuna added the extra samples from the Rabanastre sewers and a few of her own supplies. Rikku just gave a half-hearted smile. "Thanks guys."

"Is there anything else you need?" Yuna asked.

"You're just going to be a distraction for now. Go sightseeing, set things up, whatever. I just need to hunker down and get to work."

\--

Rikku spent four days straight in that room in Bevelle, not coming out for anything and only letting people in when delivering food or the occasional order of supplies. For all that we were ready and aching to cleanse the font, nothing could move forward until Rikku had developed the key component to our plans.

While Bevelle itself was a large city—and quite beautiful, if one chose to ignore the wear and tear that was universally present underneath the gaudy paint jobs—and there were a few matters to attend to—renting chocobos, getting appropriate mountaineering gear, and always errands for Rikku, who grew more irritable by the day but who never stopped needing a pinch of this and an smidge of that—we all knew that this hurrying up was little more than filling empty time with something to keep us all from losing our minds and nerves.

\--

Then of course, there were the Al Bhed who all seemed to know me from somewhere and the dwindling number who seemed to think that I was one of them. " E ys hud Al Bhed" became my refrain when going through the few Al Bhed neighborhoods in Bevelle.

"Hey!" One called out recognizing me, not just from my regular rounds in the Al Bhed alchemy shops, but from Home. "You're the one who had that commission."

Oops. This was going to end well. "We think it's a little funny that our leader's daughter disappeared right after we refused your commission."

"Oh, really?" I stood as tall as I could manage, a miniature wall in the face of their questions. "I've been here the whole time, looking for another Spiran Alchemist. The Queen's not at all happy with the Al Bhed treatment of her request. I wouldn't be surprised if there were repercussions"

The leader stepped forward. "Our leader also had an interesting incident when flight-testing our new airship. Something about Dalmascan airspace."

"You couldn't expect us to be friendly with the Al Bhed after delivering such a slight to us, could you?" I asked innocently. Maybe if I could bluff well enough I could convince them of my innocence and lose them before I went back to the Inn.

Then, Lulu found me. "There you are, Penelo. We've been looking all over for you." I glanced at her and then at the Al Bhed who seemed to know exactly what was going on. At least they could guess. "Ah, bad timing I see."

"Yeah…" The Sleepga spell was already building in me, "Once these guys are asleep, we're going to need to hurry back and tell Rikku to hurry."

\--

As soon as we arrived back at the Inn, I made a dash for Rikku's room, while Lulu primed the others in case a move of hideout was necessary now that the Al Bhed were on to our whereabouts. In the four days since she'd first locked herself in and got to work, Rikku looked worse for wear. The hair was falling out of her braids, and the moment before she pulled her goggles down over her eyes, I saw the dark circles and what looked like tears coming down.

"Rikku?" I asked, "What's wrong?"

"It's…" She took a deep breath, "it's not coming together as it should. This isn't easy, you know.. I think I've gotten it all, but there's always just that one last piece. Stupid laboratory equipment, it's all just a bunch of mainland-produced junk." She slammed the empty beaker she was holding on to the table.

As though to illustrate that point, the bottle shattered. "You see," Rikku laughed bitterly. Cuts from the glass shards crossed down her right hand and forearm.

"Your hand," I rushed over and took her arm. "No, don't." I said before she could protest my use of magic. I muttered a quick cure spell, and even the resentful Rikku watched in fascination as the wounds closed up. Her eyes widened as the last of the lacerations melted away, to reveal unmarked scars.

"I'm fine, really," Rikku pulled her hand away from me and lifted up to her face. "I think…I think I might have just been looking at things from the wrong angle. But now I've got myself in focus. Besides, you should have cleaned that first."

"Sorry," I was already sweeping up the rest of the shards around the table.

Rikku flexed her hands. "I'll take care of that. Just tell Yunie," Rikku whispered, "that we're going to be heading off to Gagazet tomorrow."

"Are you sure?" I asked.

Rikku took a good, long look at me. "Absolutely positive."


	17. Chapter 17

The next morning saw the five of us gathered in the inn's common room, freely exercising our nervous tics. Auron paced. Yuna wrung her hands something fierce. Even the perpetually calm Lulu fiddled with the Nu'Mou doll in her arms.

"So, what's the plan?" I asked.

Lulu stepped forward. "We're about a day's walk from Mount Gagazet. The Zanarkand Font is located at the peak. Provided we get the Ronso's permission, we can take the easy pathway up the south face. The first sign of trouble will come at the entrance to the Fountain itself."

"The protections from Archades, right."

Auron spoke up. "Those too. But the mountain has its own protections besides the barrier. Once we're past the Archadian barrier, we'll still have to get around those. They didn't just seal off the font because they didn't like that Braska managed to temporarily cleanse the water."

"So what are these 'protections'?" Rikku asked.

Lulu looked grim. "Fiends—monsters as you mainlanders call them."

Auron continued. "Old spells. Tests. We would be wise to keep our heads clear in there."

"Once we're past the entrance," Lulu talked as she mended her doll, "and into the font itself, this is where it's going to get tricky. Yuna, play the sphere for Rikku please?" Yuna did, and Lulu continued her explanations. "Sir Auron has confirmed that this is similar in appearance to the thing that he and Braska fought ten years ago."

"The viscus from it is deadly," Auron said, "When we kill it, the death itself must be clean or else a new source of toxin will grow. Furthermore, anyone directly exposed to large amounts of the remains will themselves sicken."

Yuna looked away. Of course, Lord Braska had been through this.

"Not a problem." Rikku smiled, but this one seemed to not quite reach her eyes. "I've managed to work with the preserved samples you and Yuna gave to me, and I've come up with some real beauties." She opened her bag and pulled out a line of potions, all of which were colorless and labelled incomprehensibly. Yet she never hesitated. "This one should be enough of a dose to make anyone who has to get up close and personal a chance to fight off the potent toxin, and this one right here is an extremely hydrophilic mix. It'll suck the moisture out of anything, and this baby right here will kill anything dead. And this one—it's more complicated…" I thought maybe she was going to explain, but Rikku remained deliberately obscure with the final concoction. "well, basically this one will be the one to actually clarify the water once we're sure that all the nodes are dead."

I whistled. "Not bad..."

Rikku shrugged, and turned her head away. "Some of them have been in development for years. I just needed a reason and a touch of time to perfect them. I didn't spend my days in house arrest sitting around playing with the desalinator."

"I should hope not," Lulu smiled.

\--

The Ronso—Spira's predominant and distinctly blue species of Viera who made their home in the mountain's caves and crevices—were not entirely happy that we wanted to climb Mount Gagazet, but at the words 'Zanarkand Font' and 'purification' they nodded their heads and allowed us to pass, though not without sending someone behind us—a runt named Kimahri—to keep us from trespassing where we weren't welcom. Runt, in Ronso terms, seemed to be anyone less than eight feet tall, not counting ears.

"Kimahri's okay," Lulu said on our trek up, "and the Ronso have given their full support the cleansing of the fountain in the past. The Ronso tribe used to be a lot bigger, but the plague has been hardest on them."

"Don't they get the same vaccinations as everyone else?" I asked.

Kimahri shook her head.

Yuna explained. "Back when Rikku and I were working together on Besaid, the Ronso had sent Kimahri down from the mountain to see what the alchemists could do for their situation. We managed to find a formula that should have worked for Vieras. But the concentration of the toxins up here on Gagazet is much higher than it is down in the lowlands.

"Right," Rikku sighed, "and when I did finally find the right formula, I was already grounded for life, and Pops wouldn't let the Al Bhed distribute the vaccinations to Gagazet. Ronso don't exactly have a lot of money."

The six of us reached the top of Gagazet safely. In some ways, it felt like a victory, but we all knew that the obstacles were just beginning.

"You ready, Yunie?" Rikku asked, as we stayed well away from the entrance to the font. The Archadian barrier had held strong against spells and blades alike. I had encountered something like this before, at Giruvegan: a gate that only opened for a specific Esper, in this case Valefor.

Yuna nodded grimly and stepped forward. She lifted her staff and danced the pattern that would bring Valefor to her. In that instant, as her feet shuffled effortlessly through the snow, Yuna appeared to have been born for this. Healing the inhabitants of Besaid Island seemed like nothing but a day job she took in preparation for this.

The barrier shattered under Valefor, not from her influence as Spira's guardian, but from the ear piercing cry she gave. The spell broke like glass, to the point of leaving sharp traces of its presence. I chanted slightly, and our feet lifted from the ground. While the effects of touching the pieces of the broken barrier were not known to me, I saw no reason to take the risk.

"Who goes first?" Yuna said. With the barrier down, we could already smell the first traces of the toxin. If the Garamsythe had not been fun, after our trip into Zanarkand, I imagined that we wouldn't want to get out of the bathtub for a week, if we could convince ourselves to enter in the first place.

We stared at each other, and Auron stepped forward. The shards of barriers didn't fall further apart beneath his feet. "Let's be careful. Keep your mind clear."

"Of course," Lulu said, and the three of us nodded and fell into line behind him.

"Lead the way, old man!" Rikku said.

The path proved to be straightforward, with our unfortunate noses guiding our way as much as the cleared paths did. The creatures who took up residence were not as difficult as we imagined; the toxin weakened them as well. We remained vigilant still. After all, even a weakened behemoth is still a behemoth.

We reached the font exhausted and exhilarated. Just like in the Garamsythe, the rotting, pulsing clot of toxin spread across its throne, only the Spira clot had at least ten years of uninterrupted growth. It blocked the entire font.

That, more than anything, was what we needed to kill on Spira and what we needed to prevent in Rabanastre.

Yet, our battles were not easy. "Halt!" Ghosts stepped forward, all in the robes of Yevonite summoners. The one who spoke was male, fairly young, and recognized by two people.

"Father!" Yuna ran forward.

"Yuna, he is not Braska."

The ghost of Braska lifted his arm and fired a spell straight at his daughter's heart. Auron and Lulu both rushed forward

"Don't try to fight them!" Lulu said. "Penelo and Rikku, get down to the water. The three of us will hold them off!"

Yuna backed away. "I can't fight my father!"

"He's just an illusion!" Lulu yelled as Auron said: "You can keep us alive!"

"Run!" Lulu shouted to us and this time it stuck.


	18. Chapter 18

Rikku took a deep breath in. "C'mon, we've got to get this done quickly, before Yunie and them get overwhelmed." Rikku handed me a small glass bottle, while she took one herself. "Penelo, take this."

"What?"

"We're going to need to go into that," Rikku pointed at the pool of miasma. "If we're lucky it will only go up to our waist, and this will keep the toxin from killing us for a while. Also: Whatever I say you do, you do. This isn't the time to question commands."

I gave a grim smile, and held the glass in a toast. "Bottoms up." I drank the bottle empty and felt a shudder come over me. The stench lessened. In some ways, I became part of the toxin itself, unable to be harmed by it because it was me. Rikku followed.

"Before we go in, here's what we need to do. We dehydrate the mass first." Rikku took out two spray guns and poured the contents of esoterically labelled and gigantic bottle and poured it in the chambers. "We'll need a true, steady aim on this. You'll spray first and then me until the sac is completely desiccated."

"How will we know when that happens?"

Rikku rolled her eyes. "We'll shoot, and it won't get any smaller."

"Sounds easy enough."

"Let's go."

We were lucky, barely. The water almost reached our waists any deeper and we might have had to swim. Rikku had brought her wetsuit for a reason, and I definitely felt grateful that my clothing was watertight, even as it grew heavy in the font.

I stepped up first. "Ready. Aim. Fire." Rikku whispered. I pressed the trigger and watched the contents of the chamber spray on to the clot. At first the skin wrinkled and withered. "Reload." Rikku pointed to the bottle. I did reload, and when she sprayed the next dose I was ready again. On my third time, the pod no longer shrank.

Rikku let out a sigh of relief. I understood, the bottle had been almost empty when I went for my third go. She'd have sprayed the leftovers. Even dried out, the Zanarkand clot was easily the size of a large hume.

"What next?"

Rikku laid out two more vials, and two syringes. "We kill the shell," She poured the contents of one vial into one syringe and the other vial into the other syringe. "When these mix, they make a deadly and incredibly corrosive necrotoxin. We'll inject them simultaneously into the right and left veins." Then we get out of the water. She handed me a pair of gloves. "Do not let it touch you."

I had a similar idea as soon as she had said the word necrotoxin.

We sludged through the water again, our syringes in hand. Rikku had positioned me at the side of the mass closest to the shore. She had taken the other side. "Once we inject," Rikku said, "we'll have to get to the shore before they mix. There might not be anything to worry about but if any of the necrotoxin gets in, we will not have time to save ourselves." I'll inject first, and once I pass you, you'll go. "Got that?"

I nodded.

She took a deep breath. "Okay Rikku," I heard her mumble to herself. "Nothing hard about this. Nothing at all." Rikku pointed to the large vein that branched up the near side of the dried out blob. "That's where it goes in."

"Got it."

Rikku waded to the far side, and raised her arm. The syringe went into the vein. I followed her lead, letting my needle puncture the fragile skin of the blob. "Three. Two. One." I held my breath, and then Rikku walked past me. "Go."

I pressed the top of the syringe down and the other half of the necrotoxin entered the vein. Was it really that simple? Would this problem of Spira and Rabanastre be solved so easily?

"Good!" Rikku said. "Now, get out of the water."

Right. I snapped back to reality and ran to shore. The mass collapsed and crumbled away into a fine dust. The water washed it down, and after that no trace would be found.

"Did it work? Is the water safe?"

Rikku looked grim. "Let's hope no one is fetching water on Gagazet right now. But, it'll get better in about two minutes. How are you with cleanse spells?"

"I'm licensed."

"That's all I need." Rikku brought forth her last concoction. "You're going to cast on the water."

"What? You need a target for a spell. Anatomy, or at least a solid object. Not an entire waterway."

Rikku took my hand. "Penelo. You're not getting this. If there was an alchemical solution to this, I would have figured it out years ago. But chemicals...chemicals react. Unpredictably." She let go and began to pace, "I don't know the contents of the water. I don't know if there's necrotoxin in there, or how to counteract the Sin toxin and the necrotoxin without creating another problem. But, under the right circumstances, with a few…enhancements…a simple magic spell can do that. You're a gifted magician."

"What few enhancements? I need a target."

Rikku walked back over to me and unfurled her hand. "If you take this, it won't be a problem. Your magic will be infinite for a short time."

"What's the risk?"

"I don't know," Rikku said, "I just know that this is our only chance to clean the water. Please, Penelo, trust me."

I set my hand atop her hers and felt the fragile glass slip between our palms. I trusted Rikku, in this matter at least. This was her goal, her dream, and I knew if she thought we had a better chance at success than relying on something as unreliable as magic, we would be doing that instead.

My fingers curled determinedly around the vial. "If this works and something happens to me, take this to the queen."

"Don't talk like that! You'll be fine."

"And if it doesn't work? Don't give up on Spira or Rabanastre. Please? I know you're close to a solution."

"Penelo, nothing's going to happen to you."

Neither of us knew that. I could come out of this just fine. Or I could not. I just trusted in Rikku's belief that this would work. "Promise me anyway."

"Okay, I promise. I won't give up."

"Thank you."

I held the bottle in my hand and recalled the cleanse spell. I could do this. I opened the bottle. Bitter and cilantro filled my mouth as I drank the contents, and it burned down my throat, but I saw the water, not just the pool where we stood now, but the way it flowed down the mountain and spread through the entirety of the island, how it became part of every bite its inhabitants ate and sank in through the skin, and how untreated it would kill everything.

I saw the target in my mind. In this state, I could target Ivalice itself. My fire spells could bring down a palace. My quake spell could clear a forest. But I only had one spell to cast, and that one spell would equal all of my power.

I moved to the epicenter of the font and chanted. My power filled the spring, seeking the toxic molecules, finding them, and erasing them from the water. The transformation seemed slow in my chemical-distorted eyes, the way the smell faded and the clear blue spread out from the spot I stood and flowed down Gagazet.

We could do this. I thought. No we did this. In the background I realized that the battles around us had stopped. The ghosts had faded. Tears came down Yuna's face, and Lulu would not look up. Auron…I couldn't see him anywhere. When I tried to take a step, my legs refused to stop shaking.

"Don't try to move." Rikku said, wading into the water. Her arm went over my shoulder. "Let's get you to shore. You did good."

"Did we get it?" Yuna asked. "Is Spira saved?"

Rikku nodded. "It's clear."

Lulu knelt down and dipped her hand into the pool, and let water flow from her hand. "I almost remember what this was like." Her voice echoed in my head, and the world around me still seemed distant.

"Where's Sir Auron?" I asked through my haze.

"He was a ghost," Lulu said matter-of-factly, "connected to the font just like the others. Unlike the rest of the ghosts, he escaped before the Archadians sealed in the place and retained his memories. You didn't think it was funny that Braska died from the toxin while Auron remained safe?"

"I don't know..." My brain would not focus at all.

"Are you okay." Yuna brought her hand to my forehead.

Rikku nodded. "Side-effects. She needed to be able to cleanse the pool. She'll recover in a few days. And hopefully we won't need so much for Rabanastre."

Lulu patted my hand. "That was some impressive magic you worked. And some impossible alchemy that allowed you to do that. Let's leave this place."

Rikku kept her grip around my shoulder. Yuna kept Valefor out to keep the creatures from getting too curious, and Lulu fried the rest. We did eventually leave the font. This time Yuna cast the float spell on all of us. "You don't like you could cast a basic cure spell."

I shook my head. "I don't think I could light a candle." Or get out of this cave still upright, but I didn't actually say that.

Kimahri Ronso waited for us outside. But she wasn't the only one. I caught the sight of Balthier and a youthful boy. The boy approached me.

"Quite the stunt you pulled in there. I suppose this means it's over."

"Who are you?" Rikku tightened her grip, and I had no energy to tell her that this boy—I definitely knew him—wasn't an immediate threat. In fact, I wasn't quite sure how much longer I could keep my eyes open.

"My name is Lamont—" was all I heard before the last of the energy drained out of me.

"Penelo!" At least two voices called out as my vision went dark.


	19. Chapter 19

The next time I woke, we weren't alone. The boy from the mountain—Lamont, better known in general company as Emperor Larsa Ferrinas Solidor of Archadia stood by my bedside as did Rikku, who looked grateful. "Thank goodness you're up!"

Balthier walked out from the corner. "About time you awoke. She won't let me ransom her back to her father until she knows you're safe."

"Maybe 'kidnapped by pirates' wasn't such a good idea?" Rikku leaned in and whispered to me, "I never thought they'd be on such a tight schedule." I laughed a bit. Sure thing Queen Ashe or Emperor Larsa would have been slightly more generous with the issue of Rikku's return to Home. Slightly.

Speaking of the emperor, Larsa walked forward. "We need to have a discussion of laws Miss Penelo." He turned towards the door, "Magister Gabranth!"

Gabranth walked in. He wore no helmet, but otherwise walked fully-clad in his judge's armor. His presence filled the room more than just his large man covered in metal ordinary would. Gabranth bowed. "Yes, Emperor Larsa."

Rikku nudged me. "The emperor? Sheesh, is there anyone in Ivalice you don't know?"

I squeaked. My awakening had turned somehow to a grand occasion. The only thing that would make this better (worse) is if the queen herself had arrived, though I think even she would have thought a parade or celebration to be . "I hope so? I don't think I can take any more visitors. Please tell me Queen Ashe isn't here."

"You're in luck, little lady," Balthier said, examining his nails, "she's back in Rabanastre anxiously awaiting your arrival."

Larsa stepped in. "Anyway, Miss Penelo, I'm afraid you have put me in a rather delicate situation. The issue with the barrier..." Right. Spira was still technically an Archadian territory for all it functioned almost autonomously. "You understand that I am grateful that you and your group managed to purify the water, but entering the font is illegal, plus the destruction of a spell barrier. If it were myself alone, this would easily go away, but the Senate is not happy with this flaunting of imperial law."

"So what's going to happen?"

Larsa stood up and gave his best game face. "Well, in matters of laws and penalties, I defer to the authority of the Judge Magister to administer a suitable censure."

Rikku and my gazes turned towards Gabranth. "I suppose a fine should be a satisfactory punishment," he declared authoritatively, "One thousand gil per person who trespassed."

Larsa nodded. "The amount seems reasonable for the level of the infraction."

Rikku jumped up. "That's airship robbery! We saved you millions, kajillions of gil cleansing the font!"

"My apologies, Miss Rikku. However, anything less than a thousand each for the flagrant disregard for imperial law will look too much like a slap on the wrist. Not to mention the lib"

"One-hundred. We're not as rich as your fat cats in Archadia. We've got struggles."

"Seven-fifty."

"Three-hundred."

Larsa sighed. "Five-hundred."

"Let's call it four hundred, and I'll pay for everyone." Rikku said, reaching for the pouch of money I had given her up front for the commission.

"Done."

Rikku counted out the money, and handed it into the waiting palm of the judge magister. "Here's sixteen-hundred. Are we good now?"

"We're fine." Larsa bowed to Rikku, and then turned to me, took my hand, and kissed my knuckle. "I regret not being able to enjoy your company more during my visit. Some other time, perhaps?"

"Perhaps," I allowed.

Rikku watched his back as he left. "You're the emperor's sweetheart?"

I snorted. "Hardly. We're just friends." That whole situation seemed a bit complicated perhaps. We made good friends and pen pals, but as the Emperor, he wouldn't have a whole lot of freedom in who to court, regardless of any personal feelings on either side.

Rikku grinned. "Good. You'd make an awful Archadian."

It was true enough to make me smile. "Considering that you underpaid Larsa by one person, I should say you're hardly any better. Anyway, do you have any food coming up. I'm famished."

"Sure thing. And I didn't underpay, only four people trespassed. Auron belonged there with the rest of the ghosts."

Balthier, still in the background coughed. "I shall be leaving you to your chatter, ladies. Rikku, let me know when you want to deal with your father again."

"Okey-doke." Rikku gave a mock salute.

Balthier returned it with his usual theatrical self-awareness. "It's important. I'm counting on you to strike a good deal for me."

"How much am I getting out of it?"

Balthier didn't even flinch. "Fifteen percent. And once we have the money, whether or not you return to your father is no care of mine."

"Give Penelo another ten percent as her fee for arranging this, and we'll do business."

Balthier sighed as he left the room. "Fine. Have fun you two."

I giggled, and Rikku smiled. "Alone at last," she said bringing forward a bundle and setting out bread and cheese in front of me. "It's just some bland Yevonite food, but it'll fill you right up." She tore a corner off the bread and held it near my mouth.

"It's fine," I said, "I'm not a baby Chocobo."

"I never said you were. Open up."

When we were done eating I had to ask the pressing question. "What about Rabanastre? I'm not sure if I can go through this again."

Rikku shook her head. "Already taken care of. Your friend Vaan tagged along on Balthier's visit. He took back the remedies and the method to Rabanastre. Unless you're the only person on the mainland who can cast a cleanse spell, they'll be fine. Oh and he says he forgives you for making him crawl through the sewers and making him sick."

I relaxed a little. "Thank goodness. I guess once I recover, it's back to Rabanastre for me."

Rikku looked a little taken aback. "You're going?"

"Spira has grown on me, but Rabanastre is my home. This was only until the job was done."

Her lips curled into a pout. "You don't want to stay with me? I could always..."

I shook my head, knowing what she would suggest and not wanting to hear it even as a mere joke. "You wouldn't."

"No I wouldn't. But I'd pay you generously."

"There's a world of things I still want to do. I don't want to spend the rest of my life living at Home."

Rikku shook her head. "I'm not going back. Father might believe I was kidnapped against my will, but once my role in cleansing the font is known, the Al Bhed aren't going to exactly be welcoming towards me. And now that the font is cleansed, the Yevonites don't have any reason to be generous to Al Bhed either. Spira's not going to be a fun place."

We both seemed to have the same idea at the same time. "You could come with me!" I suggested. "With the work you've done for Dalmasca, Queen Ashe would probably love to have you on a retainer. And if not, I know of at least one shopkeeper who would gladly sell your mixes. Rabanastre's citizens would be eating out of your hand in no time."

"You think? But what about Yunie?"

"You could still visit, especially once everything calms down."

Rikku took a deep breath. "Okay, then. I'll go. And if the alchemists in Rabanastre are half as incompetent as you've made them out to be, I'm gonna make myself a fortune."


	20. Chapter 20

The negotiations with Cid—to take place after I could at least walk—went about as well as we could have hoped. That is, no weapons were fired and no airships were damaged in the exchange.

"Do we have to do this right now?" Rikku asked.

Balthier crossed his arms. "Are you having second thoughts? No can do. Fortunes favor the bold."

"I'm really not sure they'll want me back. Or I guess they'll want me so they can do horrible things to me once I get back.

"Now all you have to do is behave until the money changes hands," Fran warned, "and then you're free to do as you will."

"I understand." Rikku fell resignedly behind Balthier and Fran.

We met Cid outside the Besaid Oasis. When he saw me in the background, his eyes narrowed. Most likely my presence silently confirmed paranoid theories connecting Rikku's sudden disappearance to the complete dissolution of the Sin Toxin a few days later. I must admit, a small wave of smugness welled up in me.

"I pay, and you let her go, no questions asked. Is that how this works?"

Balthier and Fran nodded. "What you do with Rikku, after the money changes hands is none of our business," Fran said with coldness that only a Viera could manage.

Tense silence hung in the air as the money was exchanged.

With the ransom in hand, Balthier stepped back, leaving Rikku to go where she will. Cid came forward to take his wayward daughter back to Home.

"Sorry, Pops," Rikku said as she gave a hard jerk and pulled away from his grip to stand next to me, "but I think it's time for me to leave the nest anyhow. Rumor has it, there's a whole world out there. And my bodyguard here—" I had to stifle a laugh at the thought of being anybody's bodyguard in this condition, "—will make sure that no one causes any trouble."

Cid looked at Balthier and Fran. "You said you'd give back Rikku no matter what."

"No," Fran said, "we said we would let her go. What she does after the money changes hands is none of our business."

At least the cover of airship was right behind us.

"You sure you don't mind doing this?" Rikku asked, as Balthier prepared the _Strahl_ for take-off, "Pops isn't going to be very charitable if you ever come back to Spira again, I imagine."

"No problem at all," Balthier turned to face her with a smirk on his face, "a leading man never leaves a lady behind. And, I must say, I consider fathers named Cid to be the worst of news."

When Rikku opened her mouth, presumably to ask for the details, I elbowed her. "It's probably best that you don't ask. He can still get a little touchy about it."

\--

Rabanastre was back to its pre-toxin hustle and bustle when Rikku and I walked out of the aerodrome and into the sun drenched streets. Rikku gaped at the crowds while simultaneously trying to pretend that she'd seen something like this before—if not in Besaid, then at least somewhere else on Spira.

"It's not that different from one of the larger cities, maybe Luca—" Of course at that point a group of three Viera passed by, a Moogle pickpocketed a hume, and a lonely seeq at the Lowtown gate started singing a salty ballad about a Bangaa maiden. I raised an eyebrow. "Umm…at least the climates are almost the same."

Rikku burst out laughing as she said it. I grinned.

"It's totally different," Rikku said, "in a good way."

Vaan, who had fortunately recovered from the unfortunate side effects of his gallivanting in the Garamsythe with me, waved us over. "Look who finally decided to show up," he said, giving my arm a gentle tap with his fist.

"Don't tell me been waiting here all day?" I shook my head at him. "Vaan, this is Rikku. She's going to be staying here in Rabanastre for a bit."

"We've met," Rikku said, "back when you were still all lights-out from the spell casting. Speaking of, how does one get into the palace. I believe your queen and I have some business to attend to."

\--

"Your attendant, Miss Penelo and her guest Miss Rikku from Spira have arrived."

We knelt before the queen. Well, I knelt, Rikku looked around puzzled before I tugged at her wrist and motioned for her to kneel. I supposed I should have given her the crash course in Dalmascan palace protocol. Ashe sat on her throne, looking as always like a young and genuinely bored queen. I did take note of the circles around her eyes as though she'd either gotten insufficient sleep or had spent some time recovering from something vile. If she were the mage who had cleansed Rabanastre, I could sympathize.

"To tell the truth, I'm not sure whether I should thank you for your assistance or not," Ashe said cracking her neck.

Rikku bent towards me. "She's still giving me the rest of the commission, right?"

"Shh." I elbowed her. "We'll get to it."

"On one hand your solution did work for the water supply, which is more than what we can say for any offered by the alchemists here. On the other hand," Ashe tilted her head, "that was some of the absolute worst spell-casting I ever had to do."

Oh gods, did I sympathize. I still ached from that stunt Rikku pulled.

"It wasn't like we had time to test," Rikku said, "Until Penelo did her thing back on Spira, I thought it was just a crazy idea that might have been crazy enough to work."

That was news to me. The whole thing had been a wild guess on Rikku's part?

"It was?"

Rikku looked at me. "Maybe a little. But don't worry, I was about ninety-one percent sure that the potion wouldn't actually kill you, and only like three percent sure that it would. So it was safe enough."

Queen Ashe raised an eyebrow. "I suppose then, I owe you payment on the commission." One of the guards carried down a wooden chest—rosewood, I guessed once it passed under my eyes, and trimmed with brass. The guard opened the box to reveal the stacks of gil lined up in neat rows and columns. "That is the amount decided upon in the contract."

Rikku assessed the contents, and I could almost see her brain working the arithmetic and searching for further reasons to heighten her commission. I almost warned her to not get too greedy with Queen Ashe. The bargain we had worked out at the beginning of her contract was more than any royal retainer ordinarily made in a week.

"I would also like to present Penelo with a token of my appreciation. Consider it a bonus in addition to your wages." A slightly smaller rosewood box came forward. "Thank you, my queen. You've been generous."

"I hope that it is enough to keep your loyal service in the palace for a little while longer. As for you, Rikku, I understand that you are facing some complications on Spira."

"Who told you that?" Rikku glanced at me. I shrugged. This was the first time I heard a mention of it outside of the two of us since we left Spira. I shook my head. Perhaps later I would explain to Rikku the unconfirmed connection between the queen and a certain sky pirate who happened to aid her escape from Spira. If she joined the court, she'd find out eventually.

"I have my sources." A faint smile spread across the queen's face. "but whether this is true or not, I believe I can make you a rather intriguing offer. How would you like to become Royal Alchemist?"

"That would depend on a few factors, I'd think." But Rikku seemed to hide her smile.

"And what would that be?"

"The pay and the work. I don't brew perfumes."

"I shall reassure the royal perfumer that his job is safe. As for the salary, let's say 10,000 a month for a retainer and extra gil plus supplies for special projects."

"What about private clients?"

"My projects would have priority, but you would be allowed to take commissions that do not conflict with Dalmasca's interests."

"Of course," Rikku said. "Oh, and one more thing. I want an assistant." She turned her glance to me and then back to the queen, and I had a clear idea of who she had in mind. "My work is too big for just one little me. I need someone who can handle the arrangements."

I boggled. Between working in the castle as one of the Queen's secretaries, as Migelo's right-hand hume and now this, I wasn't sure how many more arrangements could handle. But then as the work with the Queen and Migelo had strengthened each other, Rikku too could add something else. "I'm not cheap," I told Rikku.

Rikku grinned, "But you're the best."

"Well, if you think you can afford my time, I accept."

If anything, Rikku's expression grew more sinister, and I had a feeling that before long I would consider my time in Spira to be something of a vacation.


End file.
